Blades of Athena
by dualblader
Summary: A story of an immortal love, blood, revenge and betrayal. Follow Kralus on a journey having been woken up after a 2000 year old slumber, old enemies, new friends, an ageless love along with new enemies. Read to find out more
1. Chapter 1

A/N: Okay guys this is my first fanfiction so please go easy on me, over the years i have written a lot of stories but this is the first i have decided to actually put online. To get a few things clear I do not own PJO however i do own all the characters that are shown in the story. Another point to make to those of you who have played the second God of war the first chapter will seem very familiar, yes i took the setting, dialogue etc but i do no own any of it, it all respectively belongs to capcom and one last thing Cratos is actually in greek mythology so there are no copyright issues here :)

A/N: This isn't a double post, i just updated the chapters with the changes that pinfeather had proposed :)

Chapter 1

Return to a bloody past

Fires raged across the streets of Rhodes, the air was filled with voices of screaming women and children. The stench of blood filled the air; bodies were piling up limbs were scattered around as if they never belong to a body. The Spartan army lead by Cratos was headed for the citadel where the last flank of the Rhodes army withstood.

One by one Cratos sentenced them to death, his eyes gleaming with joy and his blades flying through the air cutting down anything in their path. Now only a handful of soldiers remained, each one of them holding on for dear life hoping that the gods take mercy on them and send a blessing.

As he walked forward two soldiers broke rank to try and make a run however they were too slow, in a split second two swords impaled them through the chest. The bodies fell to the floor with a THUMP there was still life in their eyes but slowly they dimmed until the swords were pulled out.

They looked terrifying, both blades were drenched in blood, there was an eerie orange glow being give off the blades now, they were both connected by blood splattered chains which were wrapped around his arms.

He looked like the bringer of death himself, as he raised his swords to decapitate the last remaining soldier an eagle flew past.

Cratos froze and clenched his stomach as if he had just been hit by something; he fell to his knees as if he begged for forgiveness. However that was not the case, he looked at the eagle which by now had flown to the Colossus of Rhodes in anger.

The eagle landed on the shoulder of the giant colossus, there was a huge rumbling sound emitting from the earth itself as if it were trying to say something and then it all stopped.

A giant arm rose into the smoky sky and smashed down in front of Cratos, the giant was alive its eyes shone with blue thunder as the colossus freed itself from the harbour the Spartan army fled in fear.

Even with their leader's encouragement only a few were courageous enough to stand ground, with agonising speed it crossed the crossed harbour to make its way to the citadel.

Buildings crumbled to dust, lifeless bodies were trampled creating a river of blood which slowly made its way to the ocean. Cratos went to the highest building to confront the colossus, just as he made it to the highest point the colossus made to the building.

Ask the giant rested his hand on the building, Cratos began ruthlessly attacking it at first the giant didn't notice but after a few seconds it realised that it was being attacked.

As it swung its arm to knock him off balance he jumped on to it and began running towards its face, as he reached the shoulder the giant pulled back its arm causing Cratos to lose balance.

However he used his blade to dig into the giants shoulder and lunge to its face, he forcefully opened the eyelid and stabbed it with both swords. The energy released was tremendous, a bolt of lightning shot out of the eye hitting both Cratos and the buildings nearby however Cratos survived the blast but was thrown across the city near the harbour.

As he slowly got up electricity surged through him, at first he only managed to get to his knees then upon trying again he got to his feet. Anger flashed in his eyes, as he turned around a giant arm swung to hit him he easily jumped over it and began attacking again.

It wasn't long before the giant made another mistake, it hit the ground beside him and Cratos quickly ran up its arm dodging the other hand to jump up at its face.

Blood red swords dug deep into the bronze aided by the weight of Cratos a large cut formed on one side and just as the colossus went to hit him he jumped to the other side to do the same.

As Cratos jumped down the giant arm tried to swat him whilst he was in the air but it missed, and hit a water wheel, as the arm was about to raise again Cratos grabbed it to shove it into the water wheel.  
Once again he ran up the arm to attack the face, he jumped just as the arm hit the elbow and he management to throw the sword so it dug in just below the eye.

The creature stumbled back as the sword cut through its cheek making a cross on one side; swinging the sword on the other side he did the same.  
Another surge of energy blasted Cratos across the city; he hit the ground with a very loud THUMP if it had been anyone else they would have been dead but not him.

As he got up he heard a voice calling him, at first Cratos didn't believe he heard correctly so he listened again.

"Here Cratos use this, channel your power into this sword it should be strong enough to kill him."

As he said the last word a sword dropped from the sky into the centre of the room, Cratos warily walked towards it as he put his hand on the hilt the colossus showed up again.

This time round the left hand was broken, electricity was sparking immediately Cratos took out his swords and ran to attack when it slammed down the hand causing a shockwave, Cratos was thrown back a bit but he regained his footing to continue running at the skyscraper of a monster.

He kept attacking until it let go of the ledge then he ran back to the sword, there was a golden light emitting from Cratos which was now entering the sword and just as the light got brighter colossus grabbed hold of the ledge.

There was another flash of light just as the big arm slammed into the ground in front of Cratos, due to the fact that Cratos was holding the sword he stayed in one place if it wasn't for that he would have been thrown against the wall.

The light got so bright that the bronze man actually covered its eyes, as the light began to dim a new weapon was in the hands of Cratos the sword which has been planted into the ground was now his. It was glowing fierce blue, with one hand Cratos threw the sword at the colossus which at this point was still covering its eyes the sword hit it straight in the chest.

The colossus howled as if it felt the pain, it stumbled back in surprise slowly it looked up at Cratos with eyes filled with hatred but Cratos knew nothing of it, he simply ran to continue his assault.

As Cratos approached the colossus blocked the injured part of it with the good arm and began attacking with the other but to no avail, Cratos was dodging everything the monster threw at him it was as if knowing that the monster had its end near filled Cratos with strength.

After a few blows the hand move away revealing the sword stuck in its chest, he jumped for it and pulled it out to stab it again. This time it had done the trick the light in the eyes was fading looking triumphant Cratos jumped back on to the platform.

"Is that all you have? Is that all that the mighty Olympus can summon against me?"

As Cratos walked away the colossus behind him began to crumble but it did not go down without a fight with its last bit of strength it grabbed hold of the platform so that a part of it would end up there. The head broke off its shoulders and fell on to the platform with a Thump that echoed throughout Rhodes and at the same time a very painful scream was let out as well.

The head had landed on Cratos, with the lower half of his body crushed under the weight of the giant head he cursed painfully as he tried to move toward the sword which held all his power.  
He painfully inched toward it when a shadow passed over him, looking to the right he saw a very old man looking down at him grimly. As far as old men go he didn't quite fit the bill, he was very muscular, his eyes were full of light nothing apart from the colour of his hair and beard made it seem like he was old.

"So Cratos it has come to this, it's a shame to see you like this you were a splendid warrior choosing you to replace Ares was not a bad idea."  
"Why are you here?"

I was just in the neighbourhood and I thought I should drop by see how you campaign was doing.

"Ha" Cratos said spitting out some blood "you gods were never on my side I was never welcome on Olympus but now the king of the gods has come down to see how my campaign was doing what a joke."

The old man smiled a little and turned to walk towards the sword that Cratos has dropped.

"Okay you're right I wouldn't be here without a reason, to tell you the truth I didn't like the idea of you and your little army causing trouble for all the cities in Greece." "It's been a very long time my son there is no point in carrying this on its madness."

"There is nothing else which quenches my thirst even the nectar pales in comparison to this."

"Things like this do not add to your pride Cratos I understand that your past has been very dramatic as it were but that does not give you the right to go around slaying mortals."

"What are you going to do about it?"

"Something that I should have done some time ago, I hope you can forgive me."

He picked up the sword from the ground and walked around to Cratos, by now Cratos has turned himself around so that he faced him.

"Before I do this I will give you a final chance to redeem yourself, all you have to do is serve me forever."  
"I serve no one."  
Sigh "I guess you have left me with no choice, the path you chose is your own undoing."

Holding the sword high above Cratos the old man drove it into his abdomen, Cratos coughed out more blood but there was still life in his eyes.

"The choices of the gods don't give that much of an incentive I guess they are as useless as the gods themselves."

The expression on the old man's face changed; the face which had been smiling a second ago was now full of rage. He pushed the blade further into Cratos making him cough up more blood.

"All you know shall perish for your sacrilege, your dream about ruling Olympus ends here as does the cycle."

He pulled out the sword and walked towards the edge of the platform, the city which had once been bustling with life was now overshadowed by death, in parts of the city Spartan and Rhode warriors alike still fought.

The old man sighed sadly and swung the sword over him, immediately all the fighting stopped one by one all the warriors dropped to the floor. The sound of weapons dropping sounded all over Rhodes, the battle was finally over and surprisingly this time round neither side was victorious.

"You will pay for this, mark my words what has happened here will happen again and where I am now you will lay."

The old man studied him as he slowly died taking in to account what he said, his brows arched in worry as if he could tell what might happen. As he sat down there to watch the sun go down in the distance another voice was calling out to him faint at first but it gradually grew louder.

A/N: all right guys hope you liked the first chapter now please review, no flames please and the quicker you review the quicker you get the second chapter :D


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: Hey guys here is the next chapter hope you like it, i would like to thank Assassins StoleMyPants for reviewing the first chapter, I hope that the second chapter can clear any confusion that he/she had.  
Another thing, the weapons shown in this chapter are originally from God of war however i added my own small bit of originality to it so now i consider them to be my property and if anyone would like to use them please do ask for permission before doing so. Once again the characters shown in this story are my own work.

Once again i dont own PJO or the characters in the series, if i did i wouldnt be here right now :P

Chapter 2  
The return from Exile

At this point in time a lot of things had happened since that day, there wasn't a single day that had gone by when the old man didn't think about what Cratos had said on that fateful day.  
"Brother...Brother"

"Huh what!" The old man blinked as if he had just been snapped out of dream.

"Over these past few months we have been true to the promise that we had made with Percy nearly all of our children have been claimed except for him" said a man sitting next to him wearing a Hawaiian t-shirt and shorts, he had a shimmering blue and gold trident sitting next to him, the straw hat on his head covered his black hair his piercing green eyes were staring at his brother waiting for an answer.

"Father it has been over two thousand years since he has been like that, after you heard what Cratos said you have just been thinking about that and just because Kralus had a similar personality doesn't mean that he will follow in his footsteps" said a woman to the right of the old man, she wore a white blouse and black jeans, her brown hair gracefully sat at her waist and her grey eyes looked questioningly at her father.

There was murmuring around the room the old man's eyes darted from each person in the room as if he was listening to each one of them individually, he raised his hand and there was silence.

"I do not know if setting him free is right or wrong, the warning that Cratos had given me years back has still not come to pass and it makes me wonder if he is the one to fulfil that prophecy."

"Brother" said another voice from the corner of the room, this man had very pale skin, his dark brown hair was neatly trimmed, he was wearing a black shirt with black jeans which were ripped at the knees and his black eyes were focused at the floor as if it would crumble any second.

"Whatever it may be he is still your son and now there is no oath stopping us from seeing our children, I am not saying we set him free but we should at least give him a chance."

Everyone in the room looked at him like he had said something bad or offensive, even the old man looked surprised. At first he starting grooming his beard with his hand then stopped as if it had allowed him to come to a conclusion.

"It is settled he said Kralus will be given another chance, Hermes go and bring him here we shall awaken him here in Olympus."

A man with golden curls wearing joggers' pants and shorts got up obediently nodding as to show he understood what he had to do. There was a flash of light and he disappeared, the rest of the people in the room began to talk excitedly.

A man wearing a leather jacket with combat sweat shirt and pants was smiling excitedly.

"Finally we get to see our brother after all these years I wonder how he is."

His eyes glowed menacingly as if he was hatching up a plan at this exact moment.

"I doubt anything could happen to him Ares after all he is a god and the son of Zeus said a girl with wavy brown hair and silver eyes."

"I could not have put it any better dear" said a man with curly blond hair, he was wearing a yellow t shirt with some Japanese characters on them, as for trousers he had navy blue jeans on, his blue eyes emitted a warm glow and his smile could put out the need for street lights.

As all of this was going on the old man didn't speak neither did the guy in the Hawaiian t-shirt but as the room began to get a lot more noisier he put his hand up to call for silence which had immediate results.

"I won't be letting him go just like that, it's true that he is a god but at this point in time the position that he was filling is now filled anyway."

The old man turned to look towards Ares who just found his belt a little more interesting.

"So what do you propose father?" Asked a woman dressed in a very pretty blue dress, her black hair was tied in a very tight bun and her blue eyes were ones which could capture any heart it desired.

"Hmm I want him to go to camp half-blood but at his current status he would be stronger than anyone one there so I propose that we seal his powers."

Another outburst of murmurs rang throughout the room everyone except Ares looked worried or concerned.

"That is a fine proposal agreed Ares there is no need to have another god of war."  
"Ha Ares you would be fine with that said the man in the black shirt."  
"What are you trying to say Hades?"  
"Oh just what you heard Ares, you should be respectful while you were in the underworld I was quite hospitable. It was fun having you there will be visiting anytime soon?"  
"You are crossing the line HADES said Ares rising from his chair."  
"SILENCE!"

All eyes turned to the old man waiting to see what he would say.

"What happened in the past will stay in the past, just a few months ago we would have all been in the depths of Tartarus if it weren't for the heroes who fought to defend Olympus we wouldn't be here. This is a new beginning for us all let us ensure this time that no one goes astray."

Everyone nodded in agreement, at that moment there was a flash of light and Hermes was back all eyes turned to him as if he had just interrupted something important.  
The doors behind him slowly opened, from the size of them you wouldn't think that something human was coming through.

Two eight foot tall men lumbered into the room carrying what looked like a sarcophagus. Everything about those two was normal with the exception of the face which was a little disfigured.  
Their teeth looked like yellow bricks which hadn't seen a brush in years but the main focus was the eye, yes not two eyes but one a big eye just above the nose with the iris the size of a dustbin lid. Their eyes were darting around the room looking at all the faces and finally resting upon the old man.

"Presenting the god of war" said Hermes with a pleased smile on his face.

Ares gave him a look which made him change what he had said.

"Ex god of war" added Hermes looking rather displeased with changing that status.

Everyone got up from their chairs to walk to the middle of the room where the sarcophagus had been put down next to the brazier. The flames in the brazier crackled and got bigger after they died down there was a girl with mousy brown hair and simple brown dressed appeared standing next to it.

As everyone gathered around the old man he placed his hands on the lid which immediately glowed. The sarcophagus which was brought in to the room was black and ominous; however now the whole look changed the black obsidian like material was lifted away like it was dirt.

Underneath it was revealed to be white marble with a golden pattern going all around it, the glow being given off could have blinded anyone looking straight at it.  
Slowly at first the sound of marble sliding against marble reverberated and grew louder in the room until there was a loud THUMP.

Inside lay a boy who looked to be in his teenage years, his jet black hair was quite long as it reached his shoulders, his skin had a healthy white glow where it could be seen. He seemed to be wearing full Greek battle armour which glowed as if it was still new.

"Aphrodite" said the old man "lift your magic from him someone go find Morpheus and bring him here."

Aphrodite came forward and raised her hands over the boys' chest, she said an incantation and there was a bright light with the sound of something breaking.

As soon as she was done another man stepped forward, he was wearing a blue suit with black sunglasses and he looked as if he were going for a job interview or to sign a deal.

"Ah looks like our dear brother will be waking up now" he said with a smile hope you had good dreams.

He raised his hands over the boys head and said a few incantations once again there was a light much brighter this time. Once it died down everyone looked at the sarcophagus to see if it had worked.  
At first there was nothing, not even a bit of movement but then slowly he moved his fingers as if he was been woken up from a very long slumber (which it was nearly two and half thousand years)

It was a while before he opened his eyes since he had been in slumber for so long it took a while for him to adjust but once he did he sat up. His dark brown shimmering in the light tracing all the figures that stood around the sarcophagus.

"It has been quite a while dear boy" said a slightly pudgy guy wearing traditional chiton with the leather sandals. "You haven't changed a bit Kralus."

"Neither have you dear brother I see you still drink merrily" I said speaking rather slowly as if getting used to the fact that I could speak again.

"What else could the god of Wine and Merriment do?" He asked questioningly.

"You could lose a bit of weight" said the girl who wore green trousers and a t-shirt with an oak tree imprinted on it.

"It's good to see you haven't changed much Artemis" I said laughing slightly.

Her silver eyes lingered on him for a while, a small smile played on her lips.

"It's good to have you back brother."  
"Yeah sis missed you quite a bit she just doesn't want to show it" said Apollo  
"Don't call me sis" said Artemis sighing  
"Hey Apollo I see you changed your look since the last time we met, it suits you well" I said grinning at him. "So tell me what's new?"

As I was reintroduced to everyone I noticed that the only person that wasn't happy to see me there was Ares who went back to his throne.  
The introductions were cut short by the old man as he walked through the crowd, I looked at him as if asking for answers to unknown questions and he didn't say anything for the time being.

"Kralus I...it's good to have you back"

"I was never gone in the first place, it was you who had trapped me in that dream world for this long. All that just because of what had happened years before I was even born I said looking at him with a stern look on my face Well that is all in the past now so it doesn't matter I hope that it doesn't happen again...I have lost quite a lot thanks to that."

"Kralus it wasn't father's fault for doing what he did you were following the same path as Cratos-"

"Cratos was drunk with power his years of grief had turned to anger even though you had made him in to a god Athena he still felt the need for vengeance so he created a river of blood across Greece. I did no such hing-"

"As I remember correctly" scowled Ares from his throne "you walked in here with blades in hand ready to kill me for something I hadn't done."

"I don't want to start old fights again Ares I saw you when you went to Sarah's house and after you came back you kept avoiding me as If you had done something to offend me."

Everyone in the room started to bicker among themselves about who was right and who was wrong.

"At that time it had only been a short period after we had brought Ares back using his essence there is no way he would have enough power to kill someone" said Demeter

"Let's not forget he is a god even though very weak he was still a god and killing a mortal would not be that hard for him" said Hephaestus.

"SILENCE!"

Everyone stopped bickering and returned to their thrones I stood next to the sarcophagus waiting to see what was going to happen next.

"Kralus" said the old man "we have woken you up to give you another chance at life, you will be staying at camp half-blood where you will receive training to become a hero."

I stood there trying to absorb everything that he had just said but for some reason it didn't register.

"Why would I stay at camp half blood and train...for what reason? I am a god even though Ares has at this point in time reclaimed his place that does not change that fact."

"It is a chance for you to experience a normal life; you won't have the responsibilities of a god on you anymore."

"So what you're saying is that you will seal away my powers so that I don't pose a threat anymore."

"We are only sealing your powers so that you are able to have a life as normal as can be if you went down there in your current state you would grab the attention of a whole horde of monsters who would never stop hunting you down."

"I could take care of them-"

"I have no doubt that you could but how would you be able to explain the damage caused to the surroundings to the mortals said the old man Kralus as you learn to restrain your anger and control your powers you will be given certain powers back as you progress eventually you will have all your powers back before you know it."

"Hmm it would be nice to live a normal life after such a long time" I said walking around the room "before I agree to it I would like you to swear upon the river Styx that eventually I will be able to get my powers back after I have proven myself."

The old man looked at me like I had just asked him for his life but after a few seconds his expression changed.

"In the name of the Council, we swear by the River Styx to grant you your powers back once you are capable of handling them."

There were murmurs of agreement around the whole room as the murmurs died down I spoke.

"I am ready" I said bracing myself for what was about to happen, I watched as the old man raised his hand and murmured a few words.

My body floated a few inches off the floor, blue lights like fire flies began to encircle me finally they all when into my body. There was a bright yellow light coming out from my whole body as if someone had just put a hundred watt bulb in there.

After a while all the energy began collecting itself in front of me in the form an orb slowly getting bigger and bigger eventually it stopped and I was put back on the ground.  
The orb flew into the old man's hands, where he made it vanish by waving his other hand over it.

"Don't worry it has gone to a safe place; no one will be able to find it there. Now then I think you may be getting late for camp."

"He can't go like that father" said Aphrodite "he would scare the living daylights out of the mortals let me give him something from this era."

As I watched she clicked her fingers and the Greek armour disappeared to be replaced by black jeans, blue shirt with lighting patterns over it, on top of that was a black jumper which said destruction 83 on the front. Around my neck now was a silver necklace with a dragon pendant and I had black converses on for shoes.

"Wow thanks Aphrodite I owe you one" I said smiling at her for the gift.

"This is a gift from me" said Athena as she raised her arms two blades appeared in them, both blades were attached to each other by a black chain at the hilt, they both had blue patterns running through the middle of the blade. At the hilt there were two skulls where the blades came out making it seem like skulls had been used to forge the hilt; the blades themselves had a few big serrations protruding from both edges of the blades which made them seem real scary.

"These blades should be fitting for the old god of war" said Athena with a smile

"They are more than fitting I appreciate the gesture" I said beaming as I took the blades from her hands.

"The chain extends itself when you want it to giving you the flexibility of both long range and close range combat" said Athena proudly "use them well brother for you are the first to try these and you may be the last."

"The last why?"

"No weapon should ever be created twice" she said with a smile "especially ones that belong to gods. If they fall into the wrong hands they could bring about the end of civilisation, I made those especially for you I knew that after we had made the oath to Percy Jackson that you would be awoken again someday so I designed that weapon and Hephaestus created them."

"Both the chain and the swords are made from saronite, I enchanted the chain so that it would extend and retract when you wanted it to. It's the best weapon you could have when facing enemies who can do both long and short range attacks."

"That can't be called the best weapon sure it's better than all the other weapons that are made from celestial bronze but it's not the best" said Ares

"Well to me it is and that is all that matters" I grinned at Hephaestus and bowed to show my gratitude.

"Hahahaha that's my son" said the old man with a twinkle in his eye "I also have a present for you."

He waved his hand and two bracelets appeared out of thin air, they were both glowing with a white light which slowly died away revealing two very deep blue bracelets which had weird light patterns all around. The funny thing was that even though the light being given off had died out the light patterns still gave off some light very dim but it was still there.

"I had Hephaestus make these for you way back before...here he" said holding out the bracelets.

I walked towards him and gently picked up both bracelets thinking that they would break in my hands, as soon as I touched them the light patterns on them grew brighter and suddenly they snapped themselves onto my wrists.

"Go on tap them" said Hephaestus

I tapped both bracelets in turn suddenly the light patterns grew very bright and my arms felt like they were being pulled off. As the light died down I saw that a gauntlet had replaced the small bracelets at the end of the gauntlet was a lion head and as for a mane were two spiked collars rotating where my wrist was, the gauntlets went up to my elbows and stopped there I looked at both my hands in a mesmerised state.

"That's Cestus"said the old man "its' similar to the gauntlet I used back in the titan war."

"They are the same as yours?" "But I thought you couldn't create the same weapon twice?"  
"Well they're not exactly the same" said Hephaestus "your Cestus is made from Titans steel a very rare material that is near impossible to find these days-"  
"Then how did you make these?"

"I had a small supply lying around which I used to make that hope you like it, like your swords Cestus is able to extend on chains and the chains are made from saronite which is of course enchanted. Like your swords the chain extends when you want them to, go on give it a try" said Hephaestus with a mad grin on his face.

I closed my eyes for a brief moment and raised my arms back immediately the lion heads fell off extended by a long black chain, I looked at it in surprise and began whirling them around as if attacking invisible enemies.

At the end I pulled back the lion heads and slammed them down on to the marble sarcophagus which upon impact snapped in half through the middle. I felt really happy as if I had gotten the best present ever, the gauntlets turned back into bracelets when I tapped the top of the spinning mane.

"I took in a deep breath and looked up at all of their faces."

"Thank you for the wonderful gifts" I said "now I think I should get going hopefully I will be back soon to reclaim some of my power."

As I was leaving I looked back before I passed through the doors not knowing when I would get to see the place again, as I looked at the view in front of me I was astounded I did not know that such a place existed.

There were gardens filled with various species of plants, trees bearing various fruit, lots of people were walking around in the streets buying things from stalls and chatting with friends.  
As I carried on watching Hermes came up beside without a noise.

"I thought you were gone Kralus?" "What happened?"

"Oh nothing...so much has changed in the amount of time I have been away I just thought I should take in the new scenery."

Hermes smiled at me "I know how you feel; you're finally free after such a long time it takes a little while to get used to it but I'm sure you will get used to it." "Now come on Zeus asked me to get you to the Camp."

"Its fine ill-"

"You know Kralus he feels bad for what happened to you, a day hasn't gone by when he didn't remember you...he's trying to redeem himself in your eyes."

"It will take a long time for that to happen I doubt anything he does will speed it up, well anyway since I don't know the way there can you drop me off Hermes."

He smiled at me "no problem Kralus hope you enjoy yourself there and don't worry too much I'm sure that you will get over your loss at some point."

I looked at him as if I was unsure I could ever get over it, I looked at the bag in my hand which had my swords in it and I began thinking that this was a new beginning so maybe just maybe. As I stared at the sun setting over the horizon both of us disappeared in a flash of light.

A/N: Right guys thats the end of the second chapter hope you liked it, those of you that were waiting for some crazy fight scenes they will be there in the next chapter so please review and thanks for reading


	3. Chapter 3

A/N: Hey guys here is the next chapter sorry for the wait, had a lot of work to finish off, once again the characters shown in this story are my own creations unless otherwise stated.  
I do not own PJO :(

Chapter 3  
Return of an old face

We were travelling through the air at break neck speed; I had forgotten how fast Hermes could travel for some reason I felt as though over the years he had gotten a lot faster. It wasn't long before we got to a beach I didn't know where I was but it felt good, the sea breeze felt really relaxing.

I dropped the bag on the sand and decided to sit down and watch the stars which were now twinkling above me.

"Well then I'm on my way Kralus I'll let Chiron know that you are here, he will take you to your cabin."

"Thanks for everything Hermes."

"Anytime" he said smiling then disappeared over the hill behind me, there was silence for quite some time I sat there trying to gather my thoughts about what I should do if I ever get my powers back. Whilst staring at the calm ocean in front of me I could see some flashes of times past, long ago I was at a beach just like this with her yet now I sit alone cursed by the hands of fate.

Staring up at the sky I thought I saw her face but it was just the stars playing tricks on me, after a while I heard some noise behind me but I didn't look back to see who or what it was.

"Mind if I join you" said a warm voice

"No, help yourself to a comfy spot."

He slowly sat down as if it were a chore for him to sit down; looking up at the stars he started talking.

"You know it's never easy letting go of the past but you will never know until you have tried, you might just find that you have a new family here if you open up a bit."

"Chiron back then you were my teacher you used to tell me things like this but now I don't know if I really can move on I doubt there will be anyone like her."

"Kralus you know she wouldn't have wanted to see you like this, I guess she would have told you to keep smiling."

"I guess you're right Chiron but it's hard, knowing that I will never see her again it makes life seem not worth living but I guess I can give it one more shot" I said smiling at him.

Chiron had been my teacher years ago before I was imprisoned; he was a centaur from the waist down and human from the waist up. He was now overlooking camp half-blood I had so many questions to ask him but he just gave me his usual smile as he got up.

His legs were caked with sand which he casually brushed off with his hands after stretching a bit he looked down at me.

"Come Kralus let me introduce you to the rest of the camp" said Chiron smiling energetically

"Yeah come on" I said in an enthusiastic manner "I hope I can make some good friends"

"Don't worry a person with a personality like yours will make friends even in the enemy camp" said Chiron laughing.

I picked up my bag and we started walking, we talked a bit about old times and he started telling me about the daily activities at the camp as we got closer to the pavilion where all the campers were currently enjoying their meal. As we came over the hill I saw blazing torches which were attached to marble columns running all the way up to a big bronze brazier in the middle. There were lots of tables around with lots of people sitting, talking and eating I guess that each cabin has its own table. Some tables had a few people where as others were bursting with too many.

"I guess the gods are still claiming their children."

"Well you know them Kralus they tend to work at their own pace, the camp has been open for only one week and already we have had so many children already claimed by many of the gods that I think we might have to make the cabins bigger."

"Well good luck with that, so how does the claiming work exactly?"

"Well unclaimed children stay in the Hermes cabin until their respective parents claim them."

"Okay how long is it before you get claimed?"

"Right now not that long" grinned Chiron "it's all thanks to Percy Jackson and the oath he made the gods take, because of that now all the children are quickly claimed by their parents but there are some which still take time."

"I guess that has to happen I mean the gods must have been busy over the last two thousand years" I sniggered

He started laughing at this, in the distance thunder rumbled but I ignored it and as we came to the pavilion a lot of people turned their eyes on me as if I was intruding but I didn't care so much I just followed Chiron up to the Brazier where he introduced me to Mr D.

I was quite surprised to see him here but I didn't bother asking many questions, at this point in time I was hungry upon Chiron's ushering I joined the guys at the Hermes table.

An empty plate was passed down to me I looked at it as if the food was going to follow at this point a girl sitting next to me told me to just place an order.

In my mind I was thinking about a nice grilled steak immediately it appeared in my plate at first I was taken back but then decided to tuck in before it disappeared.

As the dinner was coming to an end Chiron got up at his table and pounded his hoof against the earth for attention.

"Right everyone" said Mr D "I suppose I should say hello to you all."

He said it as if he was doing a favour on everyone there just by saying hello.

We have had quite a few people here join us today let's hope that they all get claimed soon enough he said smiling warmly well now let's all get-

He was cut off by an ear piercing roar, everyone was looking around as to find the cause of it just then someone came running into the pavilion.

This person seemed really panicked his eyes were full of fear as if he had just run away from a ghost.

"Argus what is it?" "What happened I thought you were out bringing half-bloods here why you are alone?"

"I brought them all the way here when we were attacked by something I couldn't see what it was and we were all being cornered, the van was ripped to shreds there were claw marks all over it. However we could still see nothing, that is why I came here as fast as I could to ask for help."

"You left them on their own Argus?"

"No Chiron I put a barrier around them but it won't hold for much longer I can feel them attacking it even more brutally as we speak, we must hurry" shouted Argus frantically.

Chiron rallied a few other people from the table next to his; it looked like he had just called a small army of goats but once I got a closer look at them as they passed by I noticed that they were satyrs.

They weren't the only ones getting up, a lot of people from all the tables were getting up to arm themselves so that they could fight, I looked at my bag and decided that I could help out it could be the first step to me moving on.

I took out the blades that Athena had given me; they glowed dangerously near the fire as if they wanted me to go help.

Holding a blade in each hand I followed some cabin members, we ran over a hill and past the forest at last we came to an arch where across it we saw three girls huddled close together in fear.

It didn't make sense though because there was nothing near them that was until I saw some sparks and heard something like nails being scratched across a board.

Archers ready! Shouted Chiron he himself took out a bow and readied an arrow waiting for the thing to attack again. There was silence for the next few minutes nothing except for the sobs of one of the girls could be heard then it sounded again and this time a volley of arrows flew in the direction that the attack had come from.

I walked towards the arch to see whether or not the attack had succeeded but my eyes caught something else. One of the girls with black hair, green eyes was holding another girl with blonde curls close to her as if trying to say she would protect her. I couldn't see her face properly as it was turned the other way but when she turned around to see how the other girl was doing the colour drained out of my face I couldn't believe what I was seeing. The swords in my hand dropped to the ground with a dull THUD.

"S-S-Sarah?"

I slowly walked out from under the arch as I crossed the border Chiron yelled to stop me.

"Chiron it's her, Sarah" I shouted back but he just shook his head as if to say that is impossible.

Chiron still wasn't convinced his eyes said that it couldn't be her but I needed to know, I grabbed hold of the blades from the floor and ran to where the girls were.

As I got closer to them the one with black hair was waving her arm as if to say go away we will be fine but I couldn't go I still carried on running towards them.

I was about ten feet away from them when I was knocked into the air; something had hit me in the chest and knocked the wind out of my lungs. I flew over twenty feet and hit a tree; it had been a while since I had been hit like that it felt as though I had broken a few ribs. I plunged the sword into the ground and used it to get up, now I was sure that my ribs weren't broken but I did feel like I had a concussion my mind was swimming around still trying to get the picture back in order.

I shook my head several times in order to get my normal vision back, just as I had done that I heard a fearful scream come from the girls, the barrier was now broken in my mind I knew that the life line that the girls had just ran out.

"YOU GET AWAY FROM HER" I bellowed loud enough for whatever it was to hear hoping that it works.

There was silence Chiron and the rest of the campers were still trying to figure out where this monster was rather than peppering the ground around the girls with arrows, I heard a very low hissing sound close to me.

I quickly ducked and as I did something hit the tree behind me snapping it in half, I looked back at the tree which I was leaning against it was now just a pile of splinters.

I heard the hissing again this time from another direction I got ready to attack this time, I raised my swords so that I could defend in time and lucky that I had because something hit me straight on. It hit so hard that I was lifted off my feet if it wasn't for the blades blocking the attack I would have been a goner at that point in time I thought that I shouldn't have given up my powers because right now I did not know what powers I had left so I didn't know what to do.

Anger started to surge through my mind as it had done on several occasions, while I was in the air I swung the blade toward the place that the attack had come from and it extended for quite a bit of length before hitting something.

It looked like it had lodged itself in mid-air but something was wrong, very wrong slowly very slowly a being began to materialise.

Two long pointy horns first showed up then the face of a goat and immediately underneath that was the face of a lion, its rear legs were of a goat, front legs seemed to be of a lion and the tail was a giant serpent.  
It towered above me as if showing me I had no chance to win; I threw the blades in an arch above its head cutting both its horns in one swipe.

The chimera thought I had missed it but as it saw its horns falling it realised I didn't miss, it roared in anger at the same time another chimera materialised from the woods two hundred feet away.

It charged straight at me bulldozing a wooden fence and ripping up the asphalt as it got closer to me I swing both blades at it, they both extended to close the gap between us and one blade lodged itself into the front leg causing it to stumble. The other blade luckily hit the snake as the chimera stumbled cutting through the mouth as if it were made of rubber, it roared in pain and ripped up a tree next to it launching it straight at me.

As I jumped aside I was wondering why the other chimera didn't attack me, as I looked over I realised why.

Small phalanxes of campers were attacking it and so far winning, well that was until it decided to spew out fire. The first few guys got their armour and helmets on fire but the rest of them put up their shields as a defence, it only delayed the inevitable one by one the scorching shields fell to the ground with a hiss as they hit the cold ground.

The chimera sensing it had won let out another wall of flames, I threw my sword hoping it makes it in time and it did but it was a close shave. The blade dug into the side of the lions face causing it to roar in pain and stop the wall of fire, I held on to the chain and will for it to retract.

The chimera acted just as I had hoped, it staggered forward but the sword was dug in deep and thanks to the large serrations on both edges it wouldn't be coming off anytime soon.  
I flew through the air towards it with the other blade ready at hand as I got close to it I stabbed it in the chest.

A saddening wail rang through the air but I didn't stop it took out the other blade and stabbed it in the throat, with the other blade still stuck in the chest I continuously stabbed at the throat and shoulders.

I tugged at the sword but it wouldn't come loose, after a lot of effort it slowly came out but it was too late the chimera had recovered and it grabbed hold of me before I could jump. It attempted to pull me away but I slashed at its arm and it let go of me, I plunged both swords into its chest and it froze with a look of hatred in its eyes.

As it fell to the ground I jumped off before its mammoth corpse hit the ground, yet it still wasn't dead it still had a bit of life left the charred grass around it was splattered with green blood which was still oozing from the number of cuts on its body. I walked over to it and stabbed it the blade through its head, the body started to burn up as if I had set it on fire but that was not all looking at my blades I noticed that they were glowing red hot.

The body had now turned to cinders disappearing until there was no trace of it left, in this small moment of victory I saw defeat as the other chimera breathed a wall of fire at me and I barely managed to dodge it as my jumper caught on fire.

I used the blades to tear the jumper in half to take it off; I slipped behind a tree knowing that the chimera hadn't noticed me slip away, I stood there trying to think of a way to defeat this thing without getting myself killed and it was then that I noticed the horns that I had cut off before.

I wondered why they were still here when the body had turned to cinders, not that it mattered at the moment I picked up the horns and aimed it at the legs the chimera was now sniffing the air to find me.  
It turned both its heads in my direction knowing that I had run out of time threw both horns one after the other, I don't know if it was my luck or I was good at aiming but both horns managed to impale through both the front and back right legs.

It stumbled and rolled a few times before hitting a tree, it groaned in agony as it tried to get up I ran towards it attacking it before it recovered.  
It used one of its legs to attack me but I jumped over it spinning in the air and slammed both blades down on it.

There was a crunching sound as the blades hit the goats head, there was green blood flowing from the goats head as well as the lions mouth a few feet away was something glittering in the grass among the blood.  
It was now that I noticed that both my blades were on fire which made the blue patterns on them look even more menacing, painfully the chimera turned its eyes on me at first I thought it was asking for forgiveness but I should have guessed otherwise.

It breathed out fire from its already broken mouth there was nothing I could do it got me at point blank range, as the flames enveloped me I knew there was no way for me to get out of this unhurt.  
I threw both blades into the flames they extended until they hit something hard, the hair on my arms was already burned off now the skin was sizzling and I knew I didn't have much time.

My shirt had already burned off, parts of my stomach and chest were already burned, the flames were less intense now thanks to the swords lodged in its mouth the flames were directed around me.  
I painfully grabbed hold of the chains to pull both swords in opposite directions, there was some opposition due to the bones but it only lasted a few seconds one sword ripped through the skull and the other ripped through the jaw.

Finally the flames died out along with the light in the chimera's eyes, the body began to burn up until it turned to cinders and disappeared in the wind. The horn was still there it lay in the green blood and the small glittering object was still there as if it were a prize for slaying the beast.

I could hear voices getting closer but I couldn't recognise anyone, my mind was in slow motion I began walking towards those girls as quickly as I could go.  
More people began surrounding me, I desperately pushed my way through the crowd as I did there was a gasp from a girl with grey eyes.

"Look" she said with her eyes wide.

A lot of people began to look above my head, Chiron pushed his way through the crowd followed by the three girls and he wouldn't stop smiling at me.

"What is it Chiron?" I said in a thirsty voice "why are you smiling?"

He didn't say anything just point above my head, I looked up just in time to see a hologram of a blue light spinning and gleaming. A white bolt running through the middle, after a while the hologram began to disappear.

It is determined Chiron announced.

All around me the campers began to kneel, even the injured campers were kneeling.

"I guess he finally decided to show himself" I whispered to Chiron.

"Zeus" said Chiron with a triumphant smile like he had just won first prize "Cloud gatherer, lord of thunder, ruler of mount Olympus. Hail, Kralus Son of the sky god."

At this even Chiron took a bow, I walked past him to the three girls who were bowing down I looked at the one with black hair as she looked up at me the name escaped my lips once more.

"Sarah..."

She looked at me a little confused, her expression then turned to worry as she saw me falling down.

I could hear her voice calling Chiron asking for help, everything seemed to slow down and finally I could hear nothing more.

A/N: Right guys thats the end of the third chapter hope you liked it, those of you that were waiting for some crazy fight scenes hope you had your fill in this chapter. I would really appreciate some feed back here guys, I understand that I am the new kid on the block and in someway I gotta prove my worth but if you guys dont give me any reviews how can I know if I am doing well or if any changes have to be made.  
Once again reviews are appreciated :)


	4. Chapter 4

A/N: Hey guys here is the next chapter sorry for the wait, had a lot of work to finish off, near the easter holidays now so a lot of submissions are due at uni :( once again the characters shown in this story are my own creations unless otherwise stated.  
I do not own PJO :(

Chapter 4

Capture the flag

In my dream I was looking at a girl sitting at the beach at sunset, she was wearing a very beautiful blue chiton as I watched I noticed that she was crying.  
I walked up behind her and covered up her eyes, her hands were feeling mine trying to work out who it was.

"Kralus?"

"How do you always know Sarah?"

"I can't explain it every time you are near me my heart knows it and I forget everything."

"So why were you crying I asked putting my arm around her."

"I wasn't crying" she said hastily wiping her eyes with her hands but it still didn't cover it up her eyes were still red and puffy like she had been crying for a long time.

Then the scenery changed I was in a room in a house somewhere looking around I seemed to recognise the place, I went over to the window to get a view of the rising sun as I opened the windows I heard a voice outside the room.

"No please go away it pleaded what did I ever do to you?"

"You haven't done anything so far but as long as you are going around with him I know you will, you see he is currently taking over me and I don't like that."

The other person sounded very menacing, I ran towards the door but it wouldn't open I could hear them going further into the house but I couldn't get out of this room.  
I could hear the girl telling this brute to get out of her house but he wouldn't listen and then there was a scream.

I stopped trying to open the door; colour drained out of my face I knew whoever this person had been was now either killed or hurt badly.  
Once again the scene changed to me it seemed like I was still in the same house but in a different room; I could hear maniacal laughter in the next room and ran there.

I couldn't believe what I saw; it took me a while to register what was going on but the laughter kept ringing in my ears finally I ran to the girl on the floor.

"Sarah its okay I'll save you don't worry I won't let anything happen to you."

Tears began to form in my eyes as I realised that she couldn't hear me she was pointing at something just before she died, I looked around and anger flared up in me like it had never before.

There in front of me stood a younger Ares just after he had been brought back to life, I ran towards him trying to punch him but nothing happened.

"I'll kill you Ares I screamed out in frustration I promise you even if it is the last thing I do I will kill you."

Slowly that scene began to dissipate, I was starting to wake up at first I didn't know where I was and then I noticed someone pulling at my arm.  
It was the girl I had seen before, her blonde hair was tied back in a ponytail, her grey eyes seemed to have a look of urgency as if she needed to do something, she was wearing an orange t-shirt with the words CAMP HALF-BLOOD written on the front and she was wearing black jeans.

I seemed to come to my senses and noticed that it was her that was pulling at my arm, upon looking I realised that my right hand was around some boy's throat.  
The boy looked like he was close to passing out I quickly let go and he started retching trying to breathing again.

"Hey um I'm sorry I didn't mean to do that."

"It is all right don't worry yourself" he coughed.

"Who are you guys?"

"I'm Percy Jackson son of Poseidon" said the boy he had medium length brown hair, his eyes were sea green, he was wearing a blue long sleeved shirt and jeans.

"I'm Annabeth Chase daughter of Athena" said the girl standing next to Percy.

"I thought that Thalia was the only one but I guess I was wrong" said Annabeth

"Thalia? Who's Thalia?"

"In relation to you she would be your sister."

"My sister? So where is she?"

"Well she isn't here at the moment; she joined the hunters of Artemis."

"Ah so she's a huntress well I guess the next time I see her we are going to have a lot of catching up to do, it seems that I have been away for too long I said staring into space."

"Kralus...Kralus?"

"Huh what? Oh sorry I was just lost in thought did you want something?"

"No we just came to check up on you and we heard you talking in your sleep, who is Sarah?"

I looked at him for a while wondering if I should answer him or not and in the end I decided it was for the best if I didn't tell him.

"It was no one don't worry about it" I said sitting up.

Looking at myself right now I noticed I had bandages on my arms all the way up to my shoulders and bandages around my stomach.  
I slowly got out of the bed but was stopped by Annabeth.

"You're not allowed to leave your bed she said with concerned eyes your wounds still haven't healed properly."

"yeah I know what you mean, it's been a while since I was this beat up but I guess that is bound to happen when you have your p-"

I decided to stop there as it wouldn't be a good idea to reveal to them that I had my powers sealed, we sat down for a while and talked I asked them quite a few questions about the camp which they happily answered.  
After a while a few more people came in, they were the three girls from last night they looked like they didn't get much sleep as they saw me sitting up their faces lit up a little.

"Hello my name is Angelina Vickers" said a girl with blonde hair, she was wearing a pink shirt with the words PYROBLAST written on it and jeans, her green eyes were what caught my attention. They seemed so deep like you could get lost in them.

"Hi I'm Kathleen link" said another girl next to her she had piercing blue eyes, she was wearing a brown t shirt with some Japanese character on it and joggers trousers.  
The last girl standing there looked rather worried; her green eyes were looking away from me like she had done something to offend me.

"Sa-how about you? Who are you?"

She jumped when I talked to her; she looked around to make sure that I was talking to her.

"I-I'm Nancy Salinas."

Looking at her face it reminded me of her but she wasn't this shy, she was now looking down at the floor as if she had done something wrong and then after a while she spoke again.

"Um thank you for saving us last night I wanted to ask you why you called me Sarah last night when you fell down."

Once again I kept quiet for a while I was about to speak when Chiron walked in saving me, he looked at me with warm eyes.

"I thought that was the end of you last night" said Chiron Jokily

"It would take more than that to kill me Chiron, you should know" I said laughing a little

He looked at me once again this time his eyes studying me with care, finally he spoke it felt like everyone in the room was waiting to see what he was about to say.

"Looks like over the years you haven't stopped training, your physique hasn't changed since the last time I saw you. I guess you would love to keep your body in the top condition."

"Hey what are you talking about" said Annabeth "Do you two know each other?"

Both of looked at each other and burst into laughter it felt good to laugh after a long time.

"No we don't know each other" said Chiron controlling his laughter he looked at the others with a twinkle in his eye and I guess they all knew that he wasn't telling the truth but they didn't pester him for an answer.

"Get ready everyone capture the flag is starting in a bit."

As he exited the room I looked at Annabeth with a quizzical look on my face and she knew why I was confused. She explained what capture the flag was along with the rules it didn't seem like anything hard you just needed to get the flag of the opposing team.

"So this is like a mock war I said once she had finished talking."

"In a sense yeah, there aren't that many quests that happen every year and when there are quests only a selected number of people can go so capture the flag allows them to get battle experience."

"So when there are no quests this is what you do, train and train more."

"Yeah she" said spacing out "I was like that until five years ago when Percy came here and I went on a quest with him."

"I guess it helps them in many ways" I said smiling

"Come on Kralus" said Percy

"Where to?" I asked looking a little confused.

"Well you can move around can't you?"

"Yeah but whe-"

"We are going to have you on our team for capture the flag" said Annabeth I looked at her with mild surprise.

"So you wouldn't let me get off the bed but you're letting me participate in a mock battle" I said grinning at her, her face turned a little red.

"Ah don't worry about it like I told Chiron it would take lot more than this to take me down now come on let's get ready."

"Yeah follow me I'll get you a sword" said Percy

"Don't worry about that I have my own...where are my swords?"

"Uh well last night after you passed out I took your swords with me" said Nancy looking at the floor "f-follow me I'll give them back to you."

She reluctantly left her friends, I thought she felt like I was going to flay her alive or something I was holding back laughter when she saw this she straightened up and told me to follow her.  
We walked across the grounds where everyone was getting ready for capture the flag, we made it to an over packed cabin which by the looks of it told me that it must be the Hermes cabin where all the undetermined children or the children of Hermes stay.

She went to a small corner in the cabin and began rummaging through the things that were kept there until she saw something blue glowing. She pulled out one of the swords from the pile, as she did the chain pulled the other one out as well; she held them both in her hand and walked over to me.

"Here you go Kralus" she said a little hesitantly

I took the blades and was leaving when she stopped me.

"Kralus I...um I wanted to ask-"

She was cut off by another boy who had just walked in, by the looks of it he must have been one of the people staying there. He had a helmet with blue horsehair plume, a breastplate; he held a bronze sword and a shield the size of a dustbin lid.

"Oh I'm sorry I'll be gone in a minute."

Nancy's face went red and she just went out of the room, I slowly made my way out as well looking for Percy to get some armour. I found him fitted for battle; he had a bronze sword like the guy from the Hermes cabin but no shield.

"I'm okay for swords but I don't have any armour is there anything that would fit me here?"

"Don't worry I'll get someone to have a look."

He called someone over and told them to get some armour my size, he ran off and came back after a while hidden behind a mountain of breast plates. I tried them on one by one but none of them fit me luckily the last one did the trick but I had to take off my shirt.

I could feel the sea breeze now that I had gotten rid of my shirt, the only thing under the breastplate was the bandages over my burns from the previous night. Thought they weren't that bad anymore, seeing as I had my powers sealed I was still able to heal quite fast. If I had my powers I wouldn't have been hurt but that's a different story.

Just as I had finished putting on the breastplate a conch horn sounded at the pavilion signalling everyone to make their way there, once we had gathered in the pavilion the leaders of both teams ran in with the flags.  
The leader of the blue team was some on from the Athena cabin, as she came sprinting in with a silk banner around ten feet long glistening grey with the emblem of a barn owl above the olive tree.

On the opposite side of the pavilion came the red team with their banner, it was the same size but gaudy red painted with a bloody spear and a boars head.

"Oh I'm going to enjoy this I grinned."

A lot of the people from the Ares cabin had good physiques even the girls; even though they were slender they had all built muscles and I knew if I let my guard down it wouldn't take them long to tear me down.  
Teams were announced; it seemed that Athena made an alliance with Apollo, Hermes, Morpheus, Nemesis and Hades.

Ares had managed to ally everybody else: Dionysus, Demeter, Aphrodite, Hephaestus, Hebe, Janus and Hecate. From the looks of things the sons and daughters of Aphrodite weren't the type of people to fight all they did all day was look at their reflections in the lake and talk about the latest hair styles.

The children of Demeter could be a problem as we would be fighting them in their backyard, so we would need to be careful. Surprisingly the children of Dionysus were very athletic the exact opposite of their father but they lacked in numbers with only ten of them. The children of Janus could trick us into going the wrong way even though there were only five of them they would be formidable opponents.

The Hecate cabin was another force to be reckoned as they would be able to see the future which was an ability that Hecate herself possessed, she had three heads and was said to be able to see into the past, present and future all at once. They like Janus could also fool us into going to the wrong way since their mother was the goddess of the crossroads. The children of Hebe weren't a fighting force so there wasn't much to worry about unless they decided to turn anyone who got near a flag into old men or women.

The main problem of course would be the Ares cabin they neither lacked in strength or numbers, their cabin stood strong at twenty five making it one of the top five cabins to have the most people.  
The first being Hermes for specific reasons, second being Hephaestus, third being Apollo, fourth being Demeter and Ares, finally Aphrodite. Some of the cabins barely capped the ten mark that included Hebe, Hecate, Janus, Zeus, Poseidon, Hades, Morpheus and Nemesis.

"Heroes! You know the rules." "The creek is the boundary the entire forest is fair game, magic items are allowed, the banner must be displayed prominently and they cannot have more than two guards." "You can disarm prisoners but you are not allowed to gag or bind them, of course no killing or maiming otherwise I would be in lots of trouble." "I will be both referee and the battlefield medic, if you haven't so already here are some weapons" said Chiron arm yourselves.

Once everyone had gotten a weapon we followed Annabeth into the south woods, once we had gone deep enough we set up guard around the flag and began to discuss strategy. We had two lines of defence before the flag which had two guards, both of whom looked ready for a fight.

Annabeth turned to give me instructions; I closely listened to what she had to say but decided to stop her when she told me that I would be a part of the first defence line.

"Annabeth I know what you're saying but I think I would be useful in the frontline; I might even be able to get to the flag before they get to ours."

"Let him try" said a boy next to me.

He looked very pale as if he hadn't seen sunlight in a while; he had a short black sword in his hand like he was expecting to get attacked. His black hair was medium length, unkempt and he was wearing ripped jeans which looked like they had gone through a lot.

"Nico what are you saying?"

"Trust me on this one Annabeth."

She looked at him as if waiting for him to take back what he said but he did no such thing.

"Sigh fine but you will be taking his place in the first defence line."

Now Nico pulled someone out from behind him, it was Nancy she looked a lot different in full battle gear but she was still shy and a little nervous by the look of her shaky sword in her hand.

"She will take my pla-"

"No Nico, you will be in the first defence line if you want Kralus to fight."

"No its fine, Nico you go to the front line I'll defend."

He looked at me for a while and refused my proposal; he walked off with Nancy at his side.

"Annabeth where is the girl positioned?"

"She's on the first defence line along with her two friends, she was quite nervous but I explained to her that this was only a small game it didn't affect anything." "She's calmed down a little but I guess the reality of holding a sword is making her a little nervous." "Anyway why are you asking about her?"

"I-Um I just wanted to ask because she seemed so nervous."

"Ah okay" said Annabeth giving me a look which told me that she suspected me of lying.

Before she could say anymore Percy came to tell Annabeth that everyone was positioned and ready.  
Annabeth yelled "Blue team forward!"

I gripped my blades in excitement and began running through the forest, I could hear voices in the distance getting louder and louder. I knew they were close but after passing a thicket the voices seemed a lot further away than they should have been, it was as if I had been moved away intentionally I tried going back along the same path but it didn't make any difference.

I cursed silently knowing that I had fallen into the trap laid by the guys from the Demeter cabin, I went to the closest bushes and cut them with my swords.  
I watched as the bushes grew back before my very eyes, looking around there didn't seem to be anything different they must have controlled vegetation of this part of the forest from outside. I decided there was nothing else I could do expect waiting until they grew tired or I could try to hack and slash my way out of here which may be impossible looking at the growth rate of the vegetation.

It was then that I heard a twig snap somewhere behind me I turned around immediately but there was nothing there, as I strained my eyes I could see something moving I didn't know if it was a figment of my imagination or if it really existed.

Just then something hit me; I felt a tingle all over my body and fell down to the floor my whole body felt like it had been turned to jelly.  
When I looked up I saw two guys wearing full battle armour standing over me, at first I wondered how they had done this then I noticed the spears they were holding. They were flickering with red lights at the tips, they were electric spears I never saw anything like it before as I tried to get up one of them kicked me in the ribs.

I couldn't dodge in time neither could I block their attacks, they kept attacking me but I was slowly recovering from their earlier attack. I noticed that my blades weren't in my hands I quickly looked around and saw that they were near the bush behind them, there was no way I was going to get to the bush without fighting off these two.

They were talking about something but I couldn't hear them, the shock was still ringing in my ears but whilst they were talking I recovered. I grabbed the leg of the nearest guy and pulled him off balance, he fell to the floor with a surprise I grabbed his spear before he could but his friend was already alert.

He tried to shock me but this time I was ready, my reflexes were still a little slow but I was able to dodge this time I moved to the side and used to spear to shock the guy on the floor. The second I shocked him I noticed the vegetation around me shrink in size, I started grinning and the other guy didn't like that he held up his spear to defend himself.

"You know that was a nasty surprise you guys gave me, for the children of Demeter you guys sure know how to kick a guy when he's down."

"We-we uh were told to k-keep an eye on you and m-make sure t-that you don't get past here" said the boy faltering "I don't like violence and neither does my brother."

I looked down at the body next to my feet, it seemed like he was knocked out but I didn't know for how long.

"Well your brother sure enjoyed kicking me in the ribs" I said as I rubbed my side this kind of an injury should have been nothing to me but because of the injuries that I had sustained from the other night this hurt a little.

"I-uh we aren't like this p-please d-don't hurt me."

I slowly walked over to him and he dropped his spear in fear, I went behind him to pick up my blades then walked away from him.

As I was walking away he calmed down a little and watched me walk away, the vegetation around me had returned to normal I didn't know if it was because he had stopped the magic or if it was because I had defeated them. Whatever the reason I was happy to get out of there in one piece, I flexed my muscles then stretched my arms and legs as I walked after a few minutes my body was back to normal.

I started to run through the forest again, I started thinking about what that guy had said about how they were told to keep me there that must have meant that the flag was nearby either that or I was being played for a fool. After running for a while I saw a huge fist towering above the trees as I got close to it I heard a lot of grumbling.

"Why did we have to get this job?"

"We should be on the front line not guarding a flag."

As I looked through some shrubs I saw two guys pacing the area around the flag, they were on the other side of the small river. They were wearing black armour, wielding both swords and spears, from the looks of it there was no doubt that the spears were electric like the ones that the other two had the swords were made of bronze. They was no doubt about it they were from the Ares cabin, I could tell by the looks of disappointment on their face from being left here there was a burning desire for them to be in a fight.

I walked back a bit with a grin on my face and gripped my swords; even though I was a little worn down I could still put up a fight, I ran full tilt towards the shrubs where I had been a few moments ago.

"I don't know what Clarisse was thinking stationing us here."

"Yeah when-"

He looked up as he heard footsteps getting closer, both of them picked up their shields and readied their spears. I erupted from behind the bushes in the air with my swords held high, I threw them down full force and they connected with one of the guy's shields while the other looked in disbelief.

There was a loud clang followed by a thud, shield was wrecked it looked like it had been hit by a giant fist. I landed in the gravel next to them, they both attacked with the spears hoping to shock me but I parried both spears at the last second.

As I got up they were both ready to fight, I looked at them like they were foolish to fight me but I didn't care I had an old score to settle be it with the children or the father I will settle the score.

"So which one of you wants to go first?"

"Don't get too full of yourself just because you defeated a chimera, either one of us could still defeat you."

"So come on then, what are you waiting for?"

The one whose shield I had destroyed charged at my with his spear, I parried it with one sword and broke it in half with the other but he still didn't give up he took out his sword to attack me. His swordplay wasn't bad he just seemed a little desperate, I hit his sword in succession causing him to stagger a bit but that didn't slow him down he just came back stronger.

I slowly began to get back into character and began fighting seriously, every time I dodged or parried I hit him with the hilt or with my elbow. Soon he was out of energy, I felt like I had done years ago when I was part of the Spartan army in my eyes a small fire raged.

He ran at me but I didn't dodge this time I used the chain to trap his arm and then went behind him I pulled at the chain holding his arm which caused him some agony. He dropped his sword on the floor but I didn't let him go it was as if I waited for blood, I felt a sharp pain in my right arm which cause me to loosen my grip on the chain. I looked around just as the other guy swung his sword around, I was lucky that he didn't think of using the spear otherwise I would be on the floor again as he went to attack me again I extended the chains making him hit the chains instead of my arm.

The chain was still wrapped around the other guy's arm but he was able to move since I had extended the chain, he slowly got up and picked up his sword with the other arm.  
I gripped my arm where I was cut; the bandages there were covered in blood and dirt which wasn't good. The one that had cut me attacked while I was looking at the cut, I only had enough time to pull the chains making his friend fly forward and hit him in the back.

I quickly got up and hit both of them on the head with the hilt before they could get up; I slowly walked towards the river and washed the wound a little. As I was cleaning the wound I noticed that it wasn't very deep so there wasn't any real danger, I went up to where the bodies lay in a heap and looked for something that could hold the banner in place rather than me having to hold it whilst running.

After searching for a bit nothing came to hand so I didn't bother it seemed as though I would have to carry the banner all the way back. I heard footsteps approaching so I quickly grabbed the banner and began running through the forest, I didn't even manage to get that far when I heard a lot of shouting and knew that I had just gotten away.

I didn't stop running because I knew that if I stopped they would catch up to me I didn't know how many there were but there was no time to find out I needed to get back as quickly as possible.  
In the distance I could hear the clash of swords and shields, I followed the direction from which the sounds were coming and gradually they were getting louder.

I was grateful to the gods that they had preserved my body in the same condition it had been years ago otherwise I would not have been able to run for such a long time, behind me I couldn't hear anything so I thought that my pursuers were either tired or they gave up knowing that I would eventually run in to their team mates.

They weren't wrong either because as I ran past a tree I saw a sword coming right at my head, I only had enough time to parry the attack and carried on running. Looking behind I saw a girl with long brown hair running after me, through her helmet I could see her eyes filled with disbelief.

As I turned around I hit something straight on as I recovered I saw that it was Annabeth with a two other people from the Athena cabin.

"You got the flag?" She said in surprise "that was fast I mean really fast."

"Yeah well we might want to get going unless you want to lose the flag" I said pointing behind me to the girl.

"Ah I see you met Clarisse."

"Who?"

"She's one of the children of Ares-"

"Ah well I guess that explains everything, here take the flag and get going I'll hold her off."

I passed her the flag which she took and bolted down the path she had come from; when I looked for the girl I saw that she was changing direction to go after Annabeth. I ran towards her throwing my swords to make sure that she doesn't move further away, she hit tried to block both blades but was pushed back a bit. I pulled them back as I got closer to her.

"Get out of the way punk" she shouted.

"Wow I never thought the child of Ares would be running from a fight."

At this her anger flared even more, she looked at me like a hunter looking at her prey I grinned at her and she just seemed to get even more angry.

"I never run from anything punk, why don't I show you?"

She charged at me from her movement I could tell that she was no amateur, she was quite fast and her attacks were quite precise.

"Wow I must say unlike some of the people here you look like one of the few who I am going to have fun beating."

"Ha we'll see about that soon punk."

She played a clever ploy and I fell for it, she slashed at me as I went to dodge her attack and she caught my left arm just above the elbow. It wasn't a deep cut but she looked slightly satisfied, I tried to recover as quickly as I could and began attacking. She was fast but she wasn't able to defend all the attacks, we had been fighting for quite some time yet she looked more worn out. She had cuts all down her arms, her armour was cut in places I on the other hand had quite a few bruises and the cuts which were healing while we were fighting.

I attacked her few more times until my blades were on fire, as she staggered back I used both blades to launch her into the air. If she hadn't blocked with her sword the blades would have cut through her armour, as it stood they cut half way into her sword before I pulled them back to jump into the air myself. As I jumped I met her at the same height, I swung my swords around lengthening them as much as I could without hitting the trees and attacked her again she blocked with her sword but the look on her face told me that she felt that hit.

She flew through the thicket and on to the other side where I could hear swords clashing, but they stopped when I heard a thud. As I wearily walked across through the ticket I saw a lot of people carrying swords, shields and spears watching her on the floor. I cleared the thicket looking at her on the floor, slowly walking over to her through a lot of people from the red and blue teams finally reaching her I looked down at her.

"Still think you can beat me?"

She spat some blood out of her mouth as if to say yes, she went to pick up her blade and noticed that all she had left was a hilt. She slowly got to her knees and pointed the hilt at me, I smiled at her knowing that she was about to pass out.

As she slowly fell to the floor I caught her, there were cheers from a lot of the people in the blue team and a lot of the people in the red team shook their heads in disbelief like they never though Clarisse would be defeated.

In a bit Chiron came wondering through the crowd with Annabeth at his side holding the banner which now seemed to be the same as the one we had at our camp, at first I thought about asking what would happen now that there were two banners belonging to the same cabin but it seemed that I didn't have to. Chiron looked at me with Clarisse in my arms and immediately walked over.

"She's only unconscious, nothing is broken and she isn't that injured only small cuts and bruises."

Chiron looking at me like I had done this on purpose, after checking her breathing he got up and claimed the blue team the winners. There were loud cheers from everyone in the blue team where as everyone in the red team hung their heads in shame some of the guys from the Ares cabin were still in disbelief.

This is the first time that the same cabin has held two banners said Chiron in this case I guess it would be right to have another match to settle things but by the looks of it I don't think all of you could survive it. Therefore I deem the Apollo cabin the holder of the banner, as one of the Apollo cabin members took the flag it changed to their symbol.

That night there was a big party at the pavilion; everyone was having fun, laughing, eating and joking around. Everyone was walking around talking about the events of the afternoon; I sat at a table eating when Annabeth and Percy joined me.

"What you did out there was pretty cool, I think you're now holding the record of retrieving the flag the fastest."

"I was impressed that I had beaten the record."

"So what was the previous record?"

"I guess there never was one" said Annabeth laughing "you're the first one to make the record"

"First one to make the record and beat down Clarisse" added Percy

"I didn't-"

"I know you didn't want to but now that you have Clarisse isn't going to leave you alone until she wins against you. She will hound to the depths of Hades itself."

I tried to think about that for a second but then decided not to I'd rather just enjoy the evening; the evening was pretty pleasant there was a nice cooling breeze from the ocean and the view was amazing. With the moon out the night sky looked amazing, so many stars were shining one by one as if saying hello to each other.

"Sarah would have loved this" I whispered to myself

It seemed that I wasn't quiet enough and Annabeth heard me.

"What did you say Kralus?"

"Huh I didn't say anything you must be imagining things"

"Hmm I thought I heard something but oh well lets enjoy."

The night was the best night in years, after the party Chiron took me to my cabin. There were twelve cabins in total nestled in the woods by the lake. They were arranged in a U yet separated in a normal way (odds on the even on the right) each cabin faced a commons area the size of a stadium. There were Greek statues, fountains, flower beds and a couple of basketball hoops (which I looked at in a confused manner) In the centre was a huge stone-lined fire pit which was still burning, a small girl was sitting next to it tending to it.

We walked up a small hill and came to a cabin with the number 1 gleaming above its doors, there were big white marble columns leading up to the door. Even in the night the doors shimmered like a hologram giving off a lightning bolt effect at different angles. This cabin to me seemed like one of the biggest and bulkiest, around the cabin was a lot of statues and fountains but I didn't see any flower beds which seemed kind of odd.

"This is your cabin Kralus" said Chiron "you will be staying here from today onwards, everything you need is in there so don't worry if you need anything let me know I'll try my best to get hold of it."

"Thanks Chiron good night" I said waving at him as he went down the path.

"Sleep well Kralus."

I pushed open the big bronze doors to go inside; on the inside the cabin looked much bigger than it did from the outside. I mean there weren't a lot of things here but it still was one of the biggest cabins at the camp, there was a path going down from the door and splitting into two.

As I walked in I closed the doors behind me, the moon illuminating the whole cabin made it gleam as I walked in further I noticed that there were two rooms where the path split. To my left was the room with the bed, along with it in there was a shelf with a few books, hooks on the wall and a small fountain near the entrance of the room.

The other room had a big study desk made of oak; there were blank sheets of parchment on the desk next to a silver pen and inkwell. Along the wall was a shelf with dozens of scrolls lined up from top to bottom, the ones at top were a little darker than the ones at the bottom. I thought of pulling down a scroll to read but then left them as I was too tired looking straight ahead I saw another door way and this one had no doors.

I had to know where it leads; as I crossed the doorway my eyes were wide open. The view was amazing you could see most of the other cabins from here as well as part of the woods; there was quite a large commons area after which there was a cliff, below the cliff was the lake. Up above in the cloudless sky the moon was slowly moving across the sky, a refreshing sea breeze blew across the hill I closed my eyes for a few seconds and I thought I heard someone call me.

I shook my head in disbelief thinking that it was just my imagination, I walked back to the bed put the swords against the wall and went to sleep.

A/N: Right guys thats the end of the fourth chapter hope you liked it, hope the fight scenes didn't seem to op. Please guys do REVIEW :)


	5. Chapter 5

A/N: Hey guys its been a while, sorry for the wait just been swamped with a lot of work now that its near the end of term. Once again I would like to point out that I do not own PJO or any of the characters associated with it, however I do own the Plot to this story and the characters shown within it.

Hope you like the chapter :)

Chapter 5  
An Envelope and a Request

My Dream was somewhat different this time, I was under water watching a school fish swim by at first I didn't know what was going on I felt a little out of picture here among the fishes.  
It was then that I saw something that made my hear skip a beat, it was a mermaid.

She was gorgeous; it seemed that the heavens had taken their time when sculpting her, her long blonde hair seemed like a silk cloth floating in water, her piercing green eyes had a wild look about them and her scales glimmered in the water it was like oil on water.

Fishes were happily floating by stopping for a glance and then carrying on, it seemed like they were saying hello to her but I wouldn't know anyway. At first I thought she was about to sing but she buried her face in her hands, I swam closer to try and see what was wrong but a lot of fish were getting in the way.

As I slowly made my way to where she was, there was no one there it was as if she had been a figment of my imagination.  
The next thing I knew everything changed, I was no longer underwater I was standing on solid ground, but I didn't know where I was I looked around for something familiar or some kind of sign to tell me where I was.

That was when I heard the sound of marble scraping against marble at first I thought it weird that I didn't hear any voices yet something opened. I went towards the place where I heard sound; again by the time I got there nothing was there, just an opened chamber underneath the statue.

Upon getting a closer look at the statue I saw that it had moved back, it was this that I heard before looking around the statue I saw a burnout wooden torch at one side of the statue.  
I could hear voices coming from the chamber underneath the statue, before I could even try to find out what was going on.

The scene changed again, this time I was at the front of a big house and it was familiar as I looked around I realised I was standing in camp half blood, looking ahead I saw a big house but I didn't know why I was there or what I was meant to be doing.

I imagined that this must be the place where Mr D was staying but it was much too big for him alone. I walked to the window to get a closer look, as I took a look inside I saw Chiron and satyr talking.

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah Chiron I heard one of the tree nymphs talking about it, she was saying that her cousin had seen him walking through her woods trying to convince them to join him."

"What is he recruiting for?"

"I don't know but I have told the nymphs to spread word and if any see him or hear anything new they will let me know."

Just then there was a knock at the door both heads turned to door in surprise, even I turned my head to see who it was but I couldn't see much because of the darkness. It must have been after midnight, the moon was hidden behind the trees which made it near impossible to see.

This time the knock was louder as if it was closer to me, my eyes snapped open and I saw that it was still dark. I wondered who would be knocking on the door this early in the morning, whoever it was knocked again.

"Alright, alright I'm coming I yawned what does a guy have to do to get some sleep around here?"

As I opened the doors there was no on there but it felt like a frosty presence had been there a few seconds ago. My feet were getting unnaturally cold; it felt like I was standing on ice as I was closing the doors I saw an envelope at my feet.

It was frosty blue with a blue seal on the back, from all sides of the envelop misty cold air seemed to be issued, I picked it up thinking that it was only a letter but it felt a little heaving like there was something inside.

Sigh "I guess I'll check it out in the morning."

I closed the doors and threw the letter on the desk as I went to bed; it landed next to the blank parchment with a thud. As I got in to bed there was another knock at the door, I got up again a little angry this time, I opened the door in anger and the person standing there flinched.

It was Nancy, she was wearing thick jacket to keep the cold out but she was still shivering, her green eyes looked apologetic and her black hair was tied in a ponytail. She kept shifting her feet as if trying to tell me she was feeling cold.

"What are you doing here this early in the morning?"

"I-I'm sorry I woke you up this early in the morning I needed to ask you a favour.2

"You could have done that in the morning, why this early?"

Her face went red so I didn't ask any more questions; I invited her in so that she could get out of the cold.

"I-I am sorry once again."

"I was awake anyway so don't hurt yourself too much, now what kind of favour are you asking for?"

"Well-I-Um...I wanted to learn sword fighting from you...that is if you are willing to teach me."

"Why me?"

"That day when I saw you fighting that beast I was sitting there in awe, to me you looked like one of those heroes from the stories to me you seemed invincible."

I sat there looking at her waiting for a proper reason to why she wanted me to teach her sword fighting.

"You can ask anyone else at this camp to teach you, Chiron would gladly help you with that-"

"I want to learn how to dual wield, I want to learn how to fight with two swords. I have seen the power that you hold I too want to hold that power, I too want to look down a towering beast, I-"

"I'm sorry I can't help you Nancy" I said walking away from her.

"B-Why not? Am I not strong enough? Am I not brave enough?"

"I have no doubt that you are strong and neither do I doubt your bravery but it is something that I cannot allow you to do, you're-Your face reminds me so much of someone I once lost even with all of that bravery and strength I could not do anything to save her."

"I'm sorry I cannot help you."

"But I am not her I promise you that I will never show weakness I will never-"

"It is not about showing weakness Nancy didn't you hear what I said no matter how brave or strong you think I am I was not able to save the one I loved." "What use is that strength which cannot be used to save someone, what use is the bravery which cannot be used to shield someone."

"Years have I been looking back at that fateful day wishing that I could go back once to save her and to save myself."

"I cannot allow myself to push another person into the same hell hole as me, I am sorry."

She got up and left the room without another word, I looked at the ceiling trying to suppress old memories but it was no use the flood gates had been opened.I leaned against the wall and sat down with my face in my arms thinking about everything that I could have done.

The sun had risen yet I had still not moved from there, I still sat there like a statue with my face in my arms. I suddenly heard someone's voice calling me; I felt my arm being shaken by someone I slowly looked up to find Annabeth staring down at me.

"Kralus what's wrong? Why are you sitting here? What happened?"

Finally regaining my state of mind I stood up.

"Nothing I was just sitting there thinking about something, how long have you been here?"

"I just came by a few minutes ago I saw you sitting down like this and got a little worried."

"Nothing is wrong don't worry I'm fine, so what brings you here this early in the morning?"

"Just thought I would call you down to eat, its breakfast time if you don't hurry you won't get anything to eat."

"Yeah you go on I'll change into something else and catch up with you."

As she left I realised that I had only gotten one pair of clothes from Aphrodite, remembering Chiron's words I started looking around the cabin to see if I could find something to wear. After looking around for a bit I found a bag with my name on it, I quickly opened it to find some change of clothes which I was happy to see.

I grabbed the first pair of clothes and quickly put them on; I threw my worn clothes on the bed thinking that I would take care of them when I get back. I closed the big doors as I left, running down the path I could see lightning bolts flash across the doors I soon made it to the pavilion just as Chiron got up to make an announcement.

I quickly made my way to the Zeus table where I ordered some breakfast; I listened to Chiron whilst the food was being brought. Whilst watching Chiron move around the fire, my eyes caught the attention of Nancy who had been staring at me moments ago.

"Right everyone enjoy the breakfast and remember to clean up your cabins, the cabin inspector will be coming around today." "Thank you."

When the food came I sacrificed a portion to Zeus in the fire and then ate the rest, I didn't want to face Nancy after having said so much to her so I kept avoiding her or so I thought.

That afternoon she came back to the cabin with another girl as the cabin inspector, I was lucky that the other girl was there so she didn't get a chance to talk but throughout the inspection she kept giving me one to those I'll get you later looks.

"Well I don't see anything wrong with your cabin, everything seems to be in order I don't have anything to complain about."

The other girl walked out of the cabin but Nancy stayed for a few minutes, I walked into the room with the scrolls and acted like I was looking for something so that she wouldn't start talking but it didn't work.

"Kralus I'm very sorry about the other day, I shouldn't have tried to force you to teach me."

"Don't beat yourself up over it, its fine."

"No its not, after I left that day I went to Chiron...I...I asked him about you at first he was reluctant to talk but after a while he told me to sit down."

I sat down and listened to everything by the end of it I was lost for words, I didn't realise that you had lost so much...I'm sorry.

I stood in silence it felt like I had just been hit by an invisible hand, after a while I started laughing.

"What's so funny?"

I didn't say anything just carried on laughing.

"Answer me, what's so funny?"

"I can't believe how persistent you are, you remind me of her she was just like this."

She stared at me like I had gone mad but after a few seconds a smile crept across her face.

"So you'll teach me?"

"Yeah, yeah whatever I said waving at her."

Suddenly my smile faded knowing what I had just agreed to.

"T-That doesn't count, I was distracted."

"Hey you agreed now you have to teach me."

"I'll meet you in the arena in a bit."

"Hey no wait Nancy."

She ran out of the cabin before I could stop her, I silently cursed asking myself why I had agreed. Half an hour later I was standing in the arena facing a very enthusiastic Nancy.

"Uh Nancy before we start let me ask you how good are you with one sword?"

"I-I am very good with one sword" she said rather nervously.

"Okay give me a second I'll go get a weapon for myself."

"Here" she said holding out a second bronze sword.

"No that sword won't be good; I don't want to have to take you to the infirmary on the first day."

I asked around the arena and finally managed to get a bronze dagger from someone in the Hephaestus cabin. I went back to where Nancy was waiting and she looked at me like I was crazy.

"Are you sure you don't want a sword?"

"Yeah I'm sure, now let's start."

"Wait just let me-"

Before she could even finish her sentence I ran for her with the dagger held low, she tried to block it but it was too late. The tip of the dagger hit the middle of the blade, when they connected a shrill noise rang in the air as the sword flew out of her hands and landed a few feet away.

There were a few sniggers from the others training in the arena. Nancy fell to her knees her eyes were less enthusiastic now they showed sadness and embarrassment. I picked up her sword and walked over to her.

"Nancy don't worry about it, it happens to the best of warriors."

She looked up at me with hope in her eyes.

"So you'll still teach me?"

"Yeah but not with two swords...well not for now at least until you learn to use one sword."

She wiped her eyes which had formed tears got up and took the sword from me with renewed energy.

Over the next few weeks every afternoon I was down at the arena helping her with sword fighting, she was gradually improving by the end of three weeks I had to switch to a sword from a dagger since she had gotten so much better than the first day. She still had trouble with fully blocking my attacks but she was slowly getting the hang of it.

One day at lunch something happened which changed the rest of my days at the camp. As we were making our way to the pavilion for lunch Chiron called me out.

"Hey Chiron, how are you?"

"I'm fine, it seems you're enjoying yourself he said watching Nancy as she walked to the pavilion." "She's gotten a whole lot better at sword fighting thanks to your counselling, apart from that she has changed a lot too."

"Yeah I know what you mean" I said watching as she sat down at the Hermes table in the last three weeks her body has completely changed.

As I said this he looked at me with one of his eyebrows arched.

"Oh no it's nothing like that Chiron, now is that the only reason why you called me?"

"Well no, over the last couple of weeks some strange things have been happening here, I can't seem to put my finger on it."

"When you say strange, how strange?"

He pulled out what looked like a frosty blue envelop which I recognised immediately.

"This has been popping up all around camp at different cabins; it doesn't say much apart from 'join in three weeks'."

"I got one of those envelops but I never opened it I completely forgot about it. I think it's still in my room, Chiron how many more similar letters are there?"

"Around twenty I should think so."

"Do they all relay the same message?"

"I-I don't know I...they all looked the same so I presumed they contained the same message."

"Where did you put them?"

"They are all at the big house over that hill" he said pointing behind him.

"Hmmm I'll go bring the one I received and we'll see if it has the same message."

I ran away from the pavilion and made my way to the lake, at the lake I saw the daughters of Aphrodite coming out of what looked like a hot spring upon seeing me they waved. I thought about joining them but then decided to leave that to later, I raced up the hill to the cabin pushing the doors open I ran to the table where the envelop still lay untouched.

I quickly picked it up and raced back to Chiron, it must have been my imagination but I thought I saw someone watching me through the woods. Chiron was still waiting at the same spot when I reached him, he looked at me and I showed him the same frosty blue envelop which he was holding.

Once again I felt as if something was inside apart from the letter itself, as I opened the envelop a small waft of cold air escaped from it. Inside of it apart from the letter was a gold and silver necklace which I recognised, my heart stopped for a brief moment as I took the necklace out.

"Chiron this...this belonged to Sarah how could it be here?"

Over the hill behind Chiron black clouds began forming in the sky a spiral of cold air rose into the black clouds after which they disappeared. At first I thought it must have been a freak of nature and then I heard a scream come from that direction. Everyone in the pavilion heard the scream so they all got up and raced up to the hill behind Chiron and me.

As we got there, blue lights were flashing from the big house it was like someone had put a big blue disco ball in there, Chiron ran ahead and opened the door which let out a whole gust of cold air. Bit by bit the cold air began to materialize into something; I was able to see arms and legs first then the head along with the rest of the body.

I stood there wide eyed looking at five very unordinary looking people, they were wearing blue war armour but that wasn't the entire thing that perplexed me it was the fact that they were all blue. I had never seen anyone with blue skin before I looked at them with awe, I was speechless I had heard of god being able to do things like this but the this was the first time I had seen someone else.

Their eyes looked empty, at first they were looking around as if trying to find something or someone as soon as their eyes landed on me they started walking. Chiron was already in the house and hadn't come out yet; I had the whole of camp half-blood behind me closely watching those things move forward.

When they got to me they looked at me suspiciously, it was then that one of them talked.

"Are you the one that they call Kralus?"

The voice was very cold and raspy; I felt a chill down my spine as if the voice itself was the embodiment of evil.

"Yes I am but who are you?"

"We were sent here by my king, we were told to look for you."

"Look for me but why?"

"We were told that you would understand and that if you were still in doubt to tell you that, the clouds in the sleepless sky never stop moving."

As soon as he said the last few words the colour in my face drained, it was as if someone had just taken all the blood out of my face.

"H-How do-W-Who told you that?"

"A smile crept across all of their faces; I slowly felt anger welling up inside of me."

I walked over to the one that had been speaking and placed my hands on his shoulders.

"Please tell me where did you hear that?"

"My grip tightened on the shoulders, causing his smile to recede."

"So you do know."

"Yes whatever just tell me where you heard that?"

He slowly took out a pouch and handed it to me, "what you seek is in there."

I took the pouch with shaky hands, at this point many of the camper were trying to get to me but couldn't because the rest of the other goons surrounding me. I took out what was a small metallic object with a piece of glass about the length of my middle fine, on the other side was a circular section which looked like an eye and the words S-O-N-Y etched on the front.

He pressed a button on the top and the bit of glass at the back lit up, I watched as he pressed a few buttons and the picture on the glass changed. It showed someone sitting on the floor chained to the wall; a voice could be heard ordering the person to speak.

There was silence it was then that I saw someone that looked like the guy in front of me walk up to this person. Speak when the king tells you to.

Whoever this person was had guts, as I watched the guy struck this person across the face. As the face turned my eyes widened, I rubbed my eyes to make sure that what I was seeing was real.

The person chained was none other than Sarah, she looked in a state her clothes were ripped in places and her hair was unkempt. Yet her green eyes were still as resilient as ever, she had a few cuts on her face, her arms had blue bruise marks where the chains were.

"Talk" said the raspy voice "this video will be going to your dear beloved Kralus."

At his she looked up, my eyes were welling up with tears now seeing her, the light in her eyes it pained me.

"Really, He's alive?"

"Yes now speak."

A smile crept across her tired face; it was almost as if she had been given new hope.

"Hi Kralus" she said with a smile.

Tears crept down my cheeks.

"It's been a very long time, I didn't think I would see you again not after what Ar- but that doesn't matter anymore we are here now."

"Kralus heed my words where the sun is the coldest and the landscape is barren, that is where the palace of ice stands."

"As she finished saying that the guy standing next to her hit her again and another voice started cackling."

"You really think he will come to save you? What can he alone do? He will get killed by my minions before he can get here."

"Don't underestimate him Theus, he is the last Spartan he alone can best your army of minions." "In Sparta they had a name for him they called him the bringer of storms."

"Bringer of storms...ahahahahahahahha, I'm sorry for my rudeness but in my home land I was known as the bringer of death."

His laughter seemed to ring in the air around me, he carried on laughing for a while and then it stopped there. I looked at the guy standing in front of me as he went to take the metallic object from me, at first he stopped as if knowing that something bad would happen if he tried to take it.

"If I may have it back."

"Who..."

"I'm sorry what? I can't hear you can you speak up please."

"Who hit her?"

The sky was beginning to darken and slowly lightning flashes could be seen in the distance, my voice was full of malice as I looked up the guy took a few steps back and talked to his friends in another language.  
They all unsheathed their swords as if preparing for an attack; I watched them as they slowly started to move close to me.

"I ask you again who hurt her."

"It was me" said a guy to my right at that same moment a lightning bolt hit him where he stood and he turned to ashes.

At seeing their comrade beaten they all got a little angry, one of them ran at me with sword held high before he had a chance to swing the sword I grabbed hold of his arm and pulled with all my strength.

There was a sickening cracking sound and then his arm came off, I looked at the arm as it slowly turned to cinders. There were quite a few gasps behind me but I didn't care about that I wanted revenge on the person that had hurt Sarah.

The one whose arm I had ripped off was kneeling on the grass screaming in pain, I grabbed hold of his other arm and he looked at me in fear.

"I thought that monsters couldn't feel fear" I said giving him a grin worthy of the devil.

I picked up his sword and cut his throat, he slowly fell to the ground. After which he exploded into cinders, as I turned around I saw a sword swing in front of my face missing me be an inch. As the sword went by me I stabbed him in the side, I walked past him as he crumpled to the floor now there were only two left.

They both decided to attack at the same time rather than separately, their attacks were well synchronised as I dodged one attack I was forced to block another so there was no scope for me to attack. The clouds above me rumbled with thunder, lightning flashed across the sky and heavy rain started to fall.

By now Chiron had come out but he couldn't join the fight because as he got close to me one of the guys started chanting something and kicked up the rain water which turned to ice. It flew straight at Chiron who was only able to dodge a few of them; he was hit by two of them one hit him on the right arm and the other hit on the left leg.

I ran to the one that had attacked Chiron and slammed him to the ground, as he tried to get up I punch him in the face a couple of times causing him to lose consciousness. The last one was a bit trickier he didn't carry a sword he was apt with weapon less combat, I was watching him as he slowly circled me waiting for the moment when he was going to strike but something didn't feel right.

The air around me was getting colder and colder, I could see the grass being covered with frost. It took me a while to work out what was going on but by the time I realise it was too late. He ran straight at me with his hand out stretched, his hand hit my arm as I moved out of the way I was surprised that nothing happened but the look in his eyes told me that he was sure that he had hit me.

I looked at my right arm to see that it was slowly being engulfed by red ice, I silently cursed as each second went by the ice engulfed a bit more of my arm. He looked at me and his smile told me that it he hit me again that would be the end of it, my arm was getting heavier and I didn't know how long I would last with that huge slab of ice stuck on my arm.

It was then that I remembered the look on Sarah face and my anger was renewed, there was steam being issued from the ice and I saw that the growth had stopped at my elbow. I smiled at his shocked expression, this was my chance if I lost this then he would get another chance to use his attack again.

I ran at him with my right arm outstretched, as I was getting closer to him a bolt of lightning hit the arm and it crackled with energy. When I was within reach I punched him straight in the face, the impact of the punch caused the ice to crack, the energy from the lightning bolt was displaced in a second making him fly through the air.

When he hit the water he didn't move, his body slowly started to dissipate I walked back to the only one that was now alive. I stood over him as he slowly started to regain consciousness, when he saw me he tried to punch me but I grabbed his neck very tightly.

He began flailing in the water desperately trying to breath but I didn't loosen my grip.

"Now tell me where is she, if you do I may allow you to live a little longer."

He slowly nodded his head and I loosened my grip on his throat.

"Ca-Canada...she's in Canada."

"Where is this Canada?"

"To the north way past the borders, but you will never make it there alive."

I looked at him and he winced as he saw lightning flash above, I let go of his throat.

"Go on go, run I'll give you a head start."

He looked at me with a bewildered expression; he slowly started crawling and eventually got to his feet to run, he managed to get behind the big house. It was then that a lightning bolt hit him; his painful cry rang in the air as he disappeared.

I looked at Chiron thinking that he might understand but at this point he needed to go to the infirmary to treat his wounds. The rain was slowly starting to cease, the clouds were parting to bring way for the sun. The first few rays hit the pouch that they had brought with them, remembering that little video of Sarah I went and picked it up although I didn't know how to use it.

A/N: Okay that was the end of the fifth chapter, now we are really getting into the story now. Seeing as now we are nearly half way through the story it would be nice to see what everyone thinks of it so far :)  
So please review ^_^


	6. Chapter 6

A/N: Hey guys its been a while, sorry for the wait just been swamped with a lot of work now that its near the end of term.  
Once again I would like to point out that I do not own PJO or any of the characters associated with it, however I do own the Plot to this story and the characters shown within it.

Hope you like the chapter :)

Chapter 6

Issue for a Quest

The afternoon had been pretty wild with the arrival of those mysterious monsters, but another thought was stuck in my head. How was Sarah in this era? I thought that Ares had killed her a long time ago so then how.

"Kralus...Kralus, hello are you there?"

"Huh what? Sorry Nancy I was thinking about something."

"So this Sarah person is alive then, what a relief huh you must be feeling so happy."

"Yeah..."

"Kralus what's wrong?"

"It's just that it shouldn't be possible, I searched for her so much yet I couldn't find her and I presumed her dead for such a long time yet she's here and alive."

"Well now that you know where she is, let's go get her."

"No, I'll go alone I don't want to put your life at risk as well." "I'm sorry Nancy but I can't let you come with me."

"Why? I can now fight I could help you."

"Over the last few weeks you have improved a lot and I have no doubt in my heart that you would be able to fight your own battles but I'm sorry I can't let you come with me."

I walked away from her before she could argue any more, I was trying to find Chiron to tell him that I was going on this quest but he himself had other plans.  
I found him at the infirmary getting bandages put over his wounds, the girl that was putting on the bandages seemed rather upset.

"There you go" she said tying up the loose ends on the bandages. "Just make sure you don't get hurt again, it hasn't been that long since your last injuries healed so don't over exert yourself."

"Yes I will make sure of that Cindy." "Thank you for the help."

She smiled at him and began packing away the bandages, as Chiron turned around he saw me standing at the door way.

"Ah I thought you would come looking for me sooner or later."

"So you know why I'm here, then you must know that I need to go."

"I know why you are here but I cannot allow you to go."

"Why not? Chiron after all this time I find out that she is alive and if anything happens to her I will make everyone who got in my way pay."

"Calm down Kralus nothing will happen to her."

"I passed him the pouch; he took out the object inside and began operating it."

"Who gave you this Kralus?"

"One of those monsters had it with him, what is it?"

"It's a camera, it takes pictures and videos."

"Ah so that's what it was, Chiron there is a video of Sarah in there have a look and tell me not to worry."

As Chiron watched it his expression slowly changed, he returned both the pouch and camera then began muttering to himself.

"Chiron?"

"Don't worry Kralus I will think this over and tell you tonight at the camp fire."

"Fine, thanks Chiron."

As he left the infirmary I punched a wooden column, Cindy who was putting away the bandages jumped.

"I'm sorry I didn't-"

She looked at me like I had tried to kill her, her gaze went to the hand that I had punched with and saw the skin red.

"I don't know what it is with all you boys, all you ever do is get hurt for no reason."

"I-"

I wasn't even able to speak, she was on a roll.

"Where ever you go, you never come back without getting hurt and if you haven't gotten hurt you look like you have missed out on something." "At least think of us healers how we feel when we are constantly healing you."

"Okay, okay I get your point so stop preaching."

Her face went red she quickly put everything away then walked out of the infirmary, I let out a sigh and sat down on one of the beds. I closed my eyes for a little while, for the first time in days my heart felt a little lighter and a smile crept across my face.

"Wherever you are Sarah don't worry I'm coming to save you, this time I will save you no matter what" I whispered to myself.

I could hear footsteps outside, everyone walking around doing their activities but not all of them were the same. One set of footsteps were getting louder and were coming towards me I opened one of my eyes.

Standing five feet away from me was a guy wearing a white muscle shirt, ripped black jeans, with a hunting knife strapped to his thigh. He wore red wraparound shades and his face was something that I could never forget, it was the cruellest and brutal face that I had ever seen but it seemed a little handsome I guess. His oily black crew cut gave him a more menacing look along with the scars on his cheeks which looked like he had received from many fights.

"What do you want Ares?"

"Oh I just came to check up on you...brother."

"Huh I can't remember the last time you were this nice you to me." "So tell me why are you here?"

"I heard some very interesting news earlier today-"

"Sarah is alive...is that what you heard?"

He looked at me with a grin.

"It seems that news gets to you fast, I hope now you can see that I am innocent."

I started laughing and he started to get a little edgy but tried not to show it.

"I guess we will see how innocent you are after I get her back, if she tells me that you had nothing to do with it then fine I was at fault but if she says otherwise then you better be ready for hell Ares."

The top of his shades started billowing smoke as if they were going to catch fire soon.

"Do you know who you are threatening, I am the God of war I could crush you whenever I want."

"Sure you could."

His glasses now started to melt and his eyes were now visible, where his eyeballs were meant to be there were two flames."

"I doubt that you'll be able to even touch me now that you have lost your powers."

"Well anyway I hope that was it, unless you have anything else to say I'm going."

As I got up to leave he walked to the side to let me through but as I got to the door he spoke again.

"Hmm I wonder if you can even protect her without your powers."

My feet stopped at the doorway, anger filled my heart I knew that Ares had the power to mess around with people's emotions and he would keep cranking up a person's passions until they lose the ability to think.  
However I could not control my anger, when I turned around I saw him standing ready as if waiting for me to attack.

"Come on what are you waiting for?"

"I thought that a god wasn't allowed to fight, what happened did the rules change over the last two and half thousand years."

"No they haven't changed but I am making an exception for you, you see since that day when you attacked me in Olympus I have always wanted to exact my revenge and there is no time like the present." "Your powers are gone so you're practically defenceless, I bet even one of my children could beat you."

"Don't be fooled that easily Ares I can still fight and your children can't even guard a flag let alone beat me." "I already beat down one of your kids, what was her name I keep forgetting."

"Ah yes Clarisse, she was pretty arrogant but I showed her that she couldn't beat me and now it's your turn." "You think that because I have lost my power you can easily defeat me then think again Ares I used to be the God of war, now let's settle this."

He took out his hunting knife which grew longer and turned into a double edged sword, I tapped the amulets on my wrist and Cestus formed. It was the first time that I had used it since that time in Olympus I was now used to the weight of them, it must have been because of the training that I was doing.

I grinned at him like a mad man and his eyes burned even stronger, there was a period of silence in which we could hear everything even the cracking of a twig in the distance.

Then it was suddenly broken as he ran at me, his sword had a longer reach meaning that he didn't have to get as close to swing at me. As he swung his sword I ducked, it cut through the wooden beams like butter I quickly got up as he swung the sword down.

As it hit the ground in front of me as I moved away I punched it into the ground, as I hit the sword there was a small flash of light and a small shockwave which caused him to lose his footing. I took the opportunity to punch him in the stomach; I put all my strength into the punch as it connected there was another small flash of light. There was another small shock wave; he staggered back a bit holding his stomach.

"That was a lucky shot punk; you won't be so lucky this time."

He made a quick stab for my chest and I only just managed to parry it, this gave him enough time to recover. As I got ready for another attack it felt like the room had gotten hotter, I looked at Ares and saw the fire in his eyes had gotten a whole lot brighter. He charged at me and I ran at him we both collided with such force that the beds around us were overthrown.

I looked for a chance when I could do a heavy attack but at the moment that wasn't possible but after I had deflected his sword, I punched him in the face which caused him to stagger a bit and that was my chance.  
I uppercut him and his body was lifted a good three feet in the air, right then it felt as if time had slowed down his body was slowly falling to the ground.

The chains extended in slow motion and the lion heads fell to the ground with a echoing thud, I spun both lion heads one after the other hitting him in the back to make him go higher in the air. At the end I hit him with such force that he went through the roof of the infirmary.

I kept hitting him as he was falling to the ground, as he hit the floor I pulled back the chains and smashed into him. The sound of the fall rang in the air, as I went to pull the chains back I noticed that I wasn't able to pull them back.

I thought back to what Hephaestus has said about the chains extending and retracting when I want them, but right now I wasn't able to do it. The wind blowing through the hole in the roof was making the chains rattle, as I was slowly getting up something pulled me back.

As I turned around I felt something connect to the side of my face making it snap to the other side. My head felt as though it would have been ripped off, it was hard for me to focus and then I was hit again.  
This time a lot of blood flew out, as I tried to get myself to focus I felt something pull me down again.

"This is the difference between us punk."

As my mind registered this I knew that the unknown force was Ares, anger began to surge through me again.

"You want to see the difference; I'll show you the difference."

I grabbed the chains and pulled them back will every last bit of energy I had, I managed to get the chains to retract.

I went to punch him the second Cestus had retracted and we both ended up punching each other at the same time. I knew that the fight would end very soon because I was running out of energy and I think Ares knew that so at this point he started coming at me full force.

Before I could recover he kicked me in the stomach which made me reel back at least ten feet, as I looked up I could see him running towards me but everything seemed a lot slower.  
I was able to see his every movement, as he was running he was kicking debris into the air which to me looked to be falling slowly. It was only when he was five feet away that everything returned to normal; before he was able to punch I dodged punching him in the stomach before he could come at me again.

However he expected that, he got hit on purpose as I pulled back my arm to hit him again he grabbed the arm. I began attacking his side with my other free arm but that didn't stop him from doing what he wanted it only slowed him down. He reeled a bit from the many hits to his side but he still stood firm, the fire in his eyes grew brighter and he began spinning me using my arm.

Once he had enough momentum he threw me into the air, I was flying through the air at the speed of a jet fighter but I was beginning to slow down a bit after a while. I was hitting high branches on my way down but that wasn't all, just where I was about to hit the earth Ares was standing there waiting for me.

As I came within range he punched me straight in the face, this time I wasn't about to fly away without hitting him. As I was hit in the air I extended Cestus and swung down at him, both of which hit him on the head.  
As I looked at the sky I saw a crescent moon, even though it was still evening the moon was visible. As I closed my eyes I hit the earth but it was a surprisingly soft landing nothing like what I had been expecting, as I tumbled and rolled to a stop I noticed that I was inside a room.

The room looked bizarre, a solid stone wall stood behind me on which hung a painting. There in the distance was a bright orange sunset with sparsely distanced clouds; the ocean seemed to swallowing the sun inch by inch as small waves gently caressed the shore line.

There at the shore line were two people in each other's embrace staring into the distance, I remembered the time when Sarah and I were sitting on a beach exactly like this but what struck me was how did this person manage to get everything so perfect just like that day.

As I looked around I saw a shelf full of books, a beautiful fountain, more canvases, a big black screen at the far end of the room. I heard footsteps coming from outside and got ready in case it was Ares, as the footsteps came to the doorstep I went to punch the face that was going to come around the corner and that was my mistake because the person wasn't Ares it was a girl.

Her eyes were staring right into the lions eyes when I stopped the attack, her expression quickly changed from surprise to concern.

"Are you alright?" "You're bleeding all over, wait here I'll go call someone."

"No wait don't go, I'm fine."

"No you're not you're bleeding all over."

"No I'm not it's just blood from before, the wounds have mostly healed look."

I showed her my arm where the cuts had partly healed.

"How did you heal so quickly?"

"It's a long story I'll tell you some other day when I have time, right now I was in the middle of something."

"Who are you?"

"I'm Kralus, who are you?"

"My name is Rachel Elizabeth Dare, I'm the oracle."

"Wait you're the oracle."

"Yeah why is there something wrong?"

I looked at her as she rolled her eyes; they were as green as the grass, her frizzy reddish brown hair looked like flames dancing in the wind. She was wearing a big canary yellow Yale sweatshirt and jeans that were ripped in places; from the looks of it she must have made the rips on purpose.

"What?" "Why are you looking at me like that?"

"Nothing I was just seeing how much the oracles have changed since my time."

"You sound like an old man even though you look so young."

"I think I'll take that as a compliment but you can't talk, at times you are like an old woman."

She looked pretty offended as she walked past me to sit down on a chair, I must say I didn't feel bad about saying it I did however feel a tinge of guilt but that soon vanished by what she said next.

"You know you do have a point there; there are times when I do feel a lot older than I am." "I mean I'm only seventeen but I feel like seventy."

"Um-"

Right at that moment from the corner of my eye I saw a sword flying right at me, I only had enough time to move a step to the side so that it didn't skewer me through the chest.  
It did however cut through the bicep, I tried to lift that arm but I couldn't even lift it up a bit.

I cursed the moment when I let my guard down, as I tried to stem the flow of blood I saw a fist coming right at my face. Just before it hit me I raised my other hand to block, even though I was using one arm only it should've still lessened the blow but I was wrong.

The second I used cestus to block I was hit on my other arm right where the sword had cut me, pain shot through me like lightning and I fell to my knees.

"What's this the great Kralus on his knees?"

"I see that the God of war has to sneakily attack his enemies to win, what's the matter can't win head to head?"

He was sneering at me as he walked towards me.

"You should know better than anyone Kralus that the gods don't play fair."

He grinned as he pulled back his arm to punch me; my eyes had glassed over from what he had said. Everything that happened before flashed right before my eyes, anger welled up inside me and drops of blood went down my cheeks. It looked like I had been crying tears of blood, but the blood was from the cut on my forehead which had opened up again.

I quickly rolled aside; as his fist hit the floor the whole room shook unlike the previous times he was not as absent mind he grabbed his sword which was a few feet away from him just as I swung cestus in to him.  
The impending noise reverberated around the room causing a lot of the furniture and painting to move a little, he kept the sword held in front of him so that I could not attack him. However that didn't slow down my onslaught, the sword was beginning to look like a fish bowl it had quite a lot of dents in it but it still looked strong.

I punched it for one last time and it shattered, the two broken halves were smouldering in the middle from where it was broken. There were cracks on both pieces on one the crack lead all the way to the hilt on the other they lead right up to the tip, surprisingly the sword still held even with all those cracks it had only broken into two pieces.

"Arghhhhhh I'll kill you Kralus that was my favourite sword."

"Hey come on if you have been using it for so long it was bound to happen sometime."

"Kralus I will remake this sword from your blood."

"I don't think so Ares."

I punched him in the face; a bit of ichor the golden blood of the gods crept down his lips as I went to punch him again he grabbed my other hand and pain shot through me again. This time I was determined not to give him a chance I braced myself and punched him again causing more ichor to flow out.

He wasn't looking so good anymore, his hair was slightly stained with ichor and he had cuts all over his face. As I watched the ichor from all the cuts converged at his chin, as the drop of blood fell to the floor it kept sparkling until it hit the floor. I kicked him in the stomach grabbing his head in the process and head butted him. It felt like I had just hit a tank my head was spinning, both of us fell back to the floor it felt like there was a buzzing noise in my ears.

As I looked I saw him slowly getting up, he was stumbling a bit but he regained his balance. He looked down at me in hatred, the fire in his eyes blazing even brighter yet he didn't do anything.

"You live this time Kralus but you won't be so lucky next time."

"Does that mean the war god is giving up?"

"Choose your words carefully; they may be your last."

"I could say the same for you."

He sneered at me, as I watched he began to glow and that was when I heard that girl's voice again.

"Kralus look away now!"

I quickly averted my eyes as the glow filled the room, when the light died he was gone and it was then that I heard more footsteps coming from outside. Chiron entered through the door breathing heavily followed a few other campers, they looked around the room and the state at which it was in after my fight with Ares.

"Rachel are you hurt?"

"I'm fine" she said coming out from behind the overturned furniture "it's him you should be more worried about."

Chiron looked to where she was point and found me lying on the floor, blood was still flowing from my arm but it was a lot less now. The colour from my skin was fading quite rapidly, even as he got one of the campers to fetch some nectar I was losing consciousness.

The next few hours went by in a blur I saw Chiron helping me up so that I could have a drink, whatever it was that I was drinking strangely reminded me of something I had before and very soon after drinking the cuts healed a lot faster. The colour returned to my skin, I sat there against the wall looking up at the crowd of people around me and Chiron still sitting at my side.

"What happened?"

"Long story Chiron I'll tell you some other day."

He understood what I meant so he did not push on with the questions, he ushered the other campers to move back a little so that I had a bit more breathing space.

"Chiron I have to go."

"I understand but at this point in time I don't think you would last very long out there Kralus, you are too vulnerable."

"Chiron I'm fine now, what was it that you gave me?"

"It was some nectar to help speed up the healing process. Is something wrong?"

"No it tasted a lot like something I had before so I just wanted to ask." "Anyway Chiron you told me this afternoon that you would think about it so what conclusions have you come to?"

"Well a lot of things are going on right now Kralus, there are rumours flying around about quite a few things so I have decided to issue a quest."

A smile spread across my face, all my worries disappeared in an instant whilst I was lost in my own happiness Chiron said a few other things which I did not hear at the time.

"After a while he stopped talking and I got up to thank him."

"Thanks Chiron I better get packing and leave as soon as I can."

"No need to thank me, there are other problems as well so make sure you keep a look out for them." "Oh and try to not to cause any problems for me."

"Do I ever cause problems for you Chiron?" I said smiling at him.

"Oh Kralus just visit the oracle before you go."

"I know where I'm going and I know what I'm doing so I'll be fine Chiron."

"You have to see her Kralus, whether you like it or not its tradition."

"Fine where is she?"

"She will be in big house for now, that is until we can get this place fixed up again." "Go on go."

At first I began walking to the big house, soon it turned to a light jog and then into a full on sprint. I wanted to get there as quickly as I could so that I get on with the journey; I got there just when the door closed, I composed myself and knocked on the door.

The reply was instant, as I opened the door I imagined the room to be somewhat different but it was rather plain. There were a few chairs around the room, a couple of shelves occupied by books; a table littered with squashed pastilles looked like it was for table tennis.

There were stairs leading up to the upper floor, from the look of it there was a light coming from upstairs. I climbed up the stairs and quickly opened the door to find Rachel sitting on a brown sofa enjoying a Fanta fruit twist.  
As she took a gulp she noticed me standing there and choked.

"Hey Kralus I suppose you have come to see me about your quest."

"Uh yeah Chiron said that I should see you before I go."

"Okay well ask your question."

"Sorry what?"

"Ask your question about the quest."

"Will I be able to save Sarah?"

As I finished my question the can of Fanta fell out of her hand, her eyes looked like they were rolling back into her head and suddenly they began to glowing a very earthly green.  
Everything about her had completely changed in just a few seconds; there was a very eerie glow about her eyes that kept you on the edge. When she spoke her voice was completely different, it was much deeper than before.

"You shall go east to face an old enemy"  
"You will retrieve an ancient relic to its former state"  
"You will have to choose between an old face and a new friend"  
"And because of that choice you shall be face to face with death."

As the last of the words left her lips the eerie glow left her eyes as quickly as it had appeared, she staggered a bit then noticed the spilled Fanta on the floor.

"Crap need to hurry up and clean that, quickly find something to wipe this clean."

I began looking around the room to find something to clean but nothing that could be used was around. As I was rummaging through a pile of old scrolls she called out to me.

"Kralus I...I didn't tell you something weird did I?"

"No...Don't you remember anything?"

"Did something happen?"

"Never mind let's just find something to clean that up first."

"Don't worry about it Kralus you go on ahead I'll clean it up, I hope you got the answers that you came looking for."

"I haven't really gotten any answers...coming here has just made things a lot more complicated."

"Oh um well hope you find your answers soon."

"Yeah take care Rachel, I'll see you around."

"Yeah see you later."

I left her there looking for something to clean up the mess made by the Fanta. Running as fast as I could I went back to my cabin, throwing the doors open I ran around frantically collecting everything I needed and throwing it on to the bed.

Having made a small pile of clothes and other things on the bed I looked for a bag to put it all in, there in the corner next to the pile of scrolls was the bag that I had gotten from Olympus. Grabbing the bag I began stuffing everything from the pile in there, I was surprised at how much could fit inside seeing as how untidily I was throwing everything.

I closed the bag, grabbed the swords and once again started running towards the cave, I didn't know if it was from the news of being able to go on this quest or from being given that nectar for some reason I didn't feel tired.  
As I ran up the hill to the cave I could hear two people arguing, I was hoping that it wasn't because of the amount of damage that my fight with Ares had caused. Running in to the cave I saw Chiron and Nancy practically at each other's necks, neither seemed willing to back down.

"What's going on?"

"Kralus tell her that she can't come on this mission with you; she's being very unreasonable about this."

"Why can't I go? I have worked so hard up till now; I have improved my fighting ability and general know how so what is wrong with me going with him."

The room was silent, all eyes were on me as if the balance of power lay in my hands looking at both Chiron and Nancy I couldn't help but smile. It reminded me of a time long ago when I had similar arguments, however this time it was different.

"Nancy I am going to agree with Chiron on this one, I'm sure that you have gained more fighting experience and knowledge but this is something I cannot allow you to take part in."

"Kralus how could you say that? I thought you would take my side, why is no one allowing me to go on this quest?"

"I think you should listen to Kralus, you-"

"But I want to help, is that too much to ask for?"

At this point tears were starting to form in her eyes one by one tears began to roll down her cheeks, it reminded me of the times when Sarah used to cry she was looking very cute.

"I knew that at some point I would regret this but I wasn't able to see her cry."

"Chiron its fine let her come with me."

"But Kralus-"

"Don't worry Chiron I'll look out for her, she's able to fight pretty well so she shouldn't have any problems looking out for herself" I said smiling at Nancy.

She wiped away her tears smiling and looked at Chiron for permission, Chiron seeing the hope in her eyes finally gave in.

"Fine you can go with him but take care, wherever he goes trouble seems to follow."

"Come on Chiron, don't say that you know I just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time or you could say that I was at the right place at the right time" I said smiling at him.

"What are you waiting for? Go pack your things Nancy."

At this she ran out of the cave with a very excited look on her face, as she left I looked at Chiron and knew what he was about to say before he said it.

"Don't worry Chiron I'll look out for her."

"It's not only her that I am worried for, you take care as well I heard that there are a lot of things amiss at the moment." "I'm pretty sure that this time you won't be the only ones going out on a quest."

There were murmurs going around the cave, it seemed that everyone was quite excited with this bit of news I guess this was an opportunity for them all to show their prowess.

However the look on Chiron's face didn't show any of their enthusiasm, it was a while before Nancy came back and by the time she had returned some of the people had gone back to their cabins namely the Aphrodite kids.  
Those that were left were a ragtag bunch from all cabins, mostly well-wishers.

She walked beside me and put her rucksack down, Looking around she saw a lot of people smiling at her some even giving her thumbs up.

"Right well I think that's enough for a goodbye" said Chiron

"Yeah let's get moving we need to get to the city before dawn"

I walked out of the cave followed by Nancy it seemed that she was getting rather emotional about the whole thing. I was already down the hill when I heard her calling out to me. I didn't stop only slowed down to allow her to catch up.

"Hey Kralus wait up slow down."

"Nancy you need to keep up, we need to get to the city before dawn."

The next few minutes went in silence until we reached the barrier; at this point Nancy was getting really excited.

"Oooooh I can't wait to see everything, I wonder how much has changed."

"You will see all of that once we there, now come on we need to get walking."

"Walking...why are we walking we can get the bus from further down here; it will make the journey a lot shorter."

"Bus! What's a bus?"

"What? Are you joking with me, you don't know what a bus is?"

I stopped walking and watched her as she held her stomach from laughing too hard; I saw that she was really taking this as a joke. If I didn't want anyone to know about the fact that I had been asleep for the past two thousand years, I have to start acting like I was from this era.

"All right all right let's get going, either by walking or by bus it's up to you and if you don't hurry we will walk."

"Noooo please don't say that, I'll walk quickly."

We cleared the woods and carried on walking down the road, the night air was rather chilly the cuts on my arms felt rather raw even though they had been healed. Looking at Nancy I could see that she was feeling a little cold, she had her arms wrapped around herself trying to warm herself up.

Wear something else to keep you warm."

"I'm fine don't worry, come on lets hurry up."

"Just don't get sick, I hope that you don't slow me down on this quest."

"Slow you down huh, watch I'll show you that I can hold my own."

"I can't wait."

We walked for another hour until we came near a very desolate building; or rather I thought it was desolate until I saw lights glimmering from the windows. There were four metallic pillar like objects each having a glass sheet near the top of it, a long oily black nozzle stretching out from the bottom of the pillar to the top. A very acrid smell lingered in the air, I felt rather light headed I did not know what this was and I didn't like it.

"Kralus would you like something to eat?"

"Where will you find something to eat out here?"

There she said pointing at the building, "they sell food there so do you want something?"

"No I'm fine."

"Okay."

She slowly walked to the building and walked in, I stood there waiting for her unconsciously slowly began walking towards the building to have a look at what she was doing. Upon looking through the window I saw rows of shelves filled with unusual items, some looked very shiny, others were in full view like they had been kept in the open.

There was a tired looking man wearing very small spectacles, wearing what looked like a very dark green sweater which had its sleeves rolled up to his elbows. Sitting behind what looked like a desk he watched Nancy walking around looking at various items that were on display.

As she picked up a few things he lowered his gaze to concentrate on what seemed like a smudge on the table, when Nancy reached the table he looked up at her giving her a smile. At first he separated all items and pulled them under a glowing red stick then setting them into a blue bag.

Once all items had been put in the bag he said something which I didn't hear, at this Nancy nodded taking out what looked like a pouch from which she took out a bit of green paper and handed it to the man.  
He took it while handing her the blue bag, after a minute he handed her a few coins back. Looking happy with what she got she turned around walking back towards the door, very quickly I moved towards one of the nearest pillars and tried to look interested in it.

The door opened with a very loud creak, I heard her walking towards me and the door closing with a small thud. I was hoping that she had not seen me watching her.

"I'm done let's get going, I asked in the shop what time the bus arrives at the station and it seems we only have half an hour to get to the station."

"Well let's get going then."

I started walking but noticed that she was still in the same spot, at first I thought she had seen me watching her but as the expression on her face changed I knew something was wrong. As I turned around I felt something pounce on me, it felt like I had just been tackled by a herd of elephants my head hit the floor hard and I was pretty sure that I was bleeding.

It took a few minutes to get my vision back into perspective, upon doing so I saw Nancy swinging her blue bag around and I was unable to get up as there was this invisible force still pushing me down. I tried to reach for my swords but the pressure just got even greater, it felt like I was going to suffocate but then as quickly as it had increased it went away and I was able to get to a sitting position.

I looked around for a few minutes trying to see if I could see what had pushed me down but there was nothing there, I quickly got up and felt a rush of wind to my left. Throwing my bag to the left proved that there was something there, by the way it bounced off whatever it was it wasn't small.

I could feel the blood trickling down my neck; I knew that if we didn't get out of here soon we would both be in trouble once again I saw her swing her bag in the air and it just bounced off. Quickly taking out my swords I swung both to the left of me and surprisingly I felt them hit something very hard, there was a very metallic twang that rang in the air.

A few seconds later the ground shook as if it had been hit by an earthquake, the man from the shop ran out with a very dark stick in his hands looking very terrified and it was then that I realized what was attacking us.

"Nancy we have got to run, come on!"

She didn't waste no time throwing the bag, I grabbed the bag which I had thrown earlier and waited for her.

"What are they Kralus?"

"Nemean lion, but why are there two of them in the same place?"

"Um Kralus the other one isn't a Nemean lion, it's a Minotaur."

"Ah that makes sense I was beginning to think that over the past two-"

I stopped myself from saying anymore as then she would know the truth about me, looking at her I was pretty sure that she could fight on her own but I couldn't risk her getting hurt.

"Here take my bag and get to the station I will meet you there."

"Aren't we going to fight?"

"We could fight but I'm pretty sure you would end up getting hurt; some fights should be left with honour."

"But we can take them-"

"Just listen to me, look at that beast under the light from the shop do you really think it would take it that long to kill both of us?"

As she focused at the light shining at a patch of darkness a few feet away from us she saw silver claws gleaming in the light, the fur was dazzlingly bright. As it slowly got up she saw its full size, it took up nearly all of the space in the corner it was looking at me like I was a meal in progress.

I guess the hit from my swords must have dazed it a little otherwise we would have been mincemeat by now. It raised its paw to strike us but I pushed Nancy out of the way and I caught the full blow of the swing. The original plan had been to block once I pushed her but it seemed like the lion was too quick.

I landed on the other side of the road; my head was ringing like a bell I could feel the earth shaking as it bounded towards me and the sad thing was that I couldn't move out of the way even if I wanted to. I tried to get up but couldn't, the only thing that I could do is just move out of the way just as I dived to my left the lion leapt over me.

I turned to watch it swerve; there were rows of earth dug out showing the route its claws had taken. Each of the rows were the size of a small bed, as it got ready to take another leap I slowly got up and picked up my swords.

Very slowly I began swinging them around getting ready to hit the lion once it jumped but the swords were stopped by something, as I turned around I was hit by a very dirty looking hammer. I felt my ribs crunch under the pressure it felt like time had slowed down; I could feel the dinner from the night coming back up not only that but I had started bleeding very badly.

The chain from the swords coiled itself around the hammer as I flew away but that wasn't for a long time as the Minotaur pulled back its hammer to finish me off and this time I was ready for it.  
I summoned cestus on my right arm just when I was a foot away I punched the minotaur in the face, there was a crunching sound as cestus connected with his face blood was freely flowing out its mouth like a river and I knew that it wasn't long before it went down.

I heard Nancy's voice and saw her charging with her sword from the corner of my eye; before I could say anything I felt a sharp pain in my side. As I looked I saw the claws of the lion covered in my blood, I didn't have that much time left I could feel my energy being drained as I saw the lion open its mouth I pointed at the sky what happened next was something I had not counted on.

Nancy stabbed the Minotaur in the chest, a bolt of lightning hit the lion on the mouth rather than inside it because of the invulnerable properties that the Nemean lion has the bolt was useless. It did however make the big guy stagger a little, I dropped to the floor in agony as I looked at the wound I saw that it was deep however the claws has missed the organs which was the main concern I had.

Even as I lay there my body had begun to heal itself, the wound on my side had closed but it was still fresh it could open up again if I wasn't careful.  
As I watched the lion I could see the rays of the early morning sun creeping up over the mountains in the distance, for a few minutes everything was silent even the lion took its gaze off me and it was then that I threw both swords at it in the hope that one of them hits it in the right place.

One of them harmlessly bounced off but the other barely hit the mark, as it fell I saw that the sword was lodged just above the canine. It was still alive but only barely but it was still just as dangerous, the early morning rays hit the lion's magnificent golden fur making it seem almost angelic even at its death.

Slowly walking up to it I picked up the other sword looking at it now it still hadn't lost its majestic look; its eyes were gleaming still gleaming with an undying strength it clawed relentlessly at the earth as if trying to take a final swipe at me.

Looking it in the eyes it knew that its final moments had arrived, without thinking twice i thrust the sword into the roof of its mouth. Bit by bit it began to disappear the only thing that was still left was its golden fur which had by now started to shrink into a smaller size, Nancy walked up to where I stood holding her sword and the Minotaur's horn.

The pelt lay there in the grass now looking like an ordinary lion's pelt, as I picked it up it changed in to a deep brown almost red leather jacket. It felt very light almost as if it was made from something else altogether.

"I guess the plan of getting to the city by dawn has failed" said Nancy rather sadly

"Yeah we couldn't make it by morning but let's try to make it there by afternoon."

"Sure come on lets go."

"Where are our bags?"

"I left them at the road, they should still be there."

"Nice work with the Minotaur by the way."

At this she stopped walking she watched me with a surprised look as I carried on walking.

"What was that sorry? I didn't hear that could you say that again."

"I'm pretty sure you heard that" I said grinning at her "now come on hurry up or ill leave you here."

It look like she had been rejuvenated, very enthusiastically she ran past me to where the bags were.

"Oh you suddenly seem very happy."

"Shouldn't I be happy? We just beat two big monsters."

I picked up my bag and started walking; the smile on her face seemed to take away the fatigue that had built up.

As the man from the shop had said, after half an hour of walking I could see a few buses going further down the road and looking behind us there was another bus on its way. I ran to the station to ensure that the bus stops there, Nancy on the hand was more relaxed about the whole thing.

The bus that was now getting to the stop looked very old, there were parts where the paint has stripped off; a nice healthy layer of dust caked the lower side of it. On the front there was the name of the place where it was heading to, two red and blue stripes ran down the side. As it came to a standstill in front in front of me the doors opened yet I still didn't go in, I was waiting for Nancy to catch up.

"Are you going to stand there all day or are you going to get on?" an affable voice came from inside.

There was a woman sitting in the seat at the front looking at me waiting for an answer, she looked quite charming not someone who belonged in this profession. Her reddish brown hair matched my jacket pretty well; it was shoulder length very well kept the waves of her hair looked very smooth much like the ocean waves. Her dark brown eyes were very forgiving and patient; she was wearing a blue uniform which supported her figure quite nicely from the looks of things she looked like someone who was very health conscious.

"So then are you getting on?" She asked again with a warm smile.

"Yeah I'm just waiting for my friend to catch up."

"You climb on I'll wait for her."

"Thanks."

"So where are you headed?"

"We are going to Canada; we have to meet someone there."

"Canada eh? Sounds like a very nice holiday, hope you enjoy yourselves" she winked at me

Oh we are not like that we are just-"

At that point Nancy had finally caught up and gotten on the bus, she took out some money and bought some tickets for us to go to town.I went to the last few seats at the back, there didn't seem to be that many people on here apart from us there was another old couple, a small family and a teenager.

I guess nobody travelled this early in the morning, looking out of the window I could see the woods far in the distance, the road was now starting to get wider. I had no idea when I went to sleep but it felt sooo good, there weren't any vivid dreams just a state of silence.

This was the first time that I wasn't having any bad dreams; it felt like I was floating on air time went by very quickly. When I woke up we were in the city, there were very large buildings towering down on us, the amount of things going on here at any one moment were uncountable. Looking in front of me I saw Nancy asleep whilst leaning on her bag, she looked so peaceful. The bus began to slow down at a point; the driver looked back from her seat.

"This is your stop honey."

"Ah thanks."

Waking up Nancy I got off with our bags, standing there at the station it felt quite different and not the bad kind either. The air was filled with a lot of aromas; some were making my mouth water others were trying to make me sick, a very sleepy Nancy stood next to me mumbling to herself.

"Come on lets go get something to eat, I'm sure that you'll feel better after that."

"Yeah let's get something to eat" she said whilst yawning and stretching out.

As we were walking we came up to a very nice looking shop there were quite a few people sitting inside eating, talking some even writing.

"So what do you want to eat?"

"Just get me whatever you're having."

"Okay, you go sit at the table I'll bring everything over."

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah I'm sure."

I went over to the table with all our stuff, pulling out a chair I went to sit down when two girls walked over to the table.

"Oh sorry I guess this table is taken said one of them."

"Yes it is."

"Are you taken?"

"I'm sorry what?"

Never mind she said as she watched Nancy walking over to the table, both of them walked away as she put down the tray with food and beverages.

"Who were they?"

"I have no idea, they wanted this table."

"Doesn't matter let's just eat and get going."

We both sat down and started eating; the hot beverage that she had gotten me was very sweet along with that there was something round which had been cut in the middle and filled with something. Slowly taking a bite I was surprised at how tasty it was, I had never had anything like it before not even in the old times.

"So how is it?" She asked as she watched me hungrily eating and drinking.

"This is incredible, what is this stuff?"

"Hahahahahah that's what we call a bagel and hot chocolate."

"What inside this bagel?"

"That would be tomatoes, red onion, lettuce and cream cheese."

"I have never had something so nice before, I'll have to remember this."

Throughout the time that we were sitting there she could not stop laughing at how intrigued I was by the things that I was eating and drinking. After a good hour and a half we walked out of there, I don't know about Nancy but my stomach was ready to explode.

"Right where do we go now?"

"Well the guy from before said we have to get to Canada in order to find this place where Sarah is being kept, how far is it and how can we get there?"

"Well we will have to get some kind of transport which will take us further north, we could take a few buses and we will get there in a few days or we could take a flight but I don't have enough money left for the flight."

"Buses it is then."

Walking along the streets was quite enjoyable; as we were walking Nancy was telling a bit about the city, some very nice places to see and about places that were good for food.

"You know quite a lot about this city."

"Well yeah I have lived here for my whole life; I love to go to central park with my parents on weekends." "We would feed the birds there then go and have some ice cream."

"Sounds like fun, what else did you do for fun?"

"Well I loved to go play badminton with my friends; it was really lots of fun I kind of miss those days."

"Do you regret coming to camp?"

"No I don't regret it but it would be nice to do those things again once in a while."

As we turned the corner a girl came running at me, she saw me standing there but wasn't able to change direction easily and she just ran into me. She hit my chest and fell down, she was a really beautiful girl I had no idea why she was running but she looked very scared.

Her blackish brown hair looked very dishevelled from all that running yet it was still quite wavy, she had very mesmerising greyish blue eyes which I wasn't able to look away from. She was wearing blue jeans and a white tee, both of them hung on to her figure showing it off quite well it wasn't until I heard someone shouting that I looked up.

Two very big men were point at her shouting something, upon seeing them the girl quickly got up and hid behind me.

"Please help me those men are trying to hurt me."

"Hurt you, but why?"

"I don't know"

"Hey you hand that girl over now" said a very gruff voice from the distance

"Why should I, what do you plan to do with her?"

"That is none of your concern hand her over and go away peacefully."

"Kralus I think we should take her with us, these people don't look nice."

"Yeah I think you're right, hey get ready to run."

At this point the two men were about ten feet away from us, just as one of them was about to say something when we all turned and ran down the road. Looking back I could see them running after us, both Nancy and the girl was starting to slow down. If we didn't find a way to lose them then we would all get into trouble, as we got near a bus station a bus arrived out of nowhere and we all jumped in breathing heavily.

The bus left the station before they could get there, I could see them cursing in the distance as the bus got further and further away. I looked at her and Nancy to see them trying to catch their breath; I didn't quite understand how that could have gotten them tired so easily, Nancy looked at me like she knew what I was thinking.

"Hey I'm not as athletic as you Kralus, neither is she."

"Hey I'm very athletic thank you; it's just that I haven't run this fast in a long time"

Nancy walked up to the driver and paid for the three of us, I walked to the back and slumped down in a chair by the window.

"Well where is this bus headed to?"

Well we can stay on this bus till the last stop, I mean we have to get as far north as possible so that's the best option we have.

"I'm sorry but where are you headed? Maybe I could help."

"Nancy looked at her like she had just been insulted, sensing that a fight might just break out I stepped in."

"We are on our way to Canada; we are looking for the quickest way to get there."

"Where in Canada are you going?"

"Um-"

"We are planning to go to Ottawa; we want to go skiing in the park there I hear they have awesome skiing slopes."

I looked at Nancy like she had gone crazy but she gave me a look back which said it's better that she doesn't know so much about us.

"So what's your name?"

"Oh I'm sorry I forgot to introduce myself, my name is Emily dawn."

Well I'm guessing you already know our names having heard them so many times but even then, I'm Nancy and this is my friend Kralus.

"Kralus, that's an unusual name where are you from?"

Both Nancy and I looked at each other as if trying to decide on the same answer from the looks of things if neither of us answered it would start to look very suspicious.

"At the moment I live on Long island but I was born in Athens and I moved here three years ago."

It didn't feel good to lie but that was what I would have to do if I wanted to keep my past a secret, the rest of the journey went by joking around until everyone got tired and fell asleep. I wish I could say that I didn't have any bad dreams this time but that would have just been too easy.

I stood in a very barren landscape with very little light, I could hear the roar of water in the distance but looking around I could not imagine how there could be water in a place like this. The walls were as black as the night, jagged rocks protruded the surface every fifteen feet or so, slowly I began walking around to see where I was and little did I know that I would find out sooner rather than later.

As I walked a few feet I realised that my feet were bigger than they ought to be, looking at my hands the skin was ghostly white and there were no bracelets on my hands. This wasn't me it was someone else altogether I was just seeing this place through their eyes, it wasn't long before I started to run towards the place where the sound of water was coming from.

Upon reaching there I saw a girl in a ripped white dress sitting at the bank of a river with her head in her hands, hearing her sobs I slowly walked towards her. Putting a hand on her shoulder made her look up which made my heart stop, this girl sitting here was no other than Sarah but what was she doing in a place like this.

She looked a mess, her eyes were puffed up from crying there were trails of tears running down her cheeks and her hair was very messy. She looked like a shadow of her former self; it pained me a lot to see her like this. She grabbed hold of my hand and began point into the distance where the river turned.

"P-Please g-go save him, I'm begging you please go save him."

I wanted to say I'll go and save him but the voice along with the words that came out wasn't mine.

"Nothing can save him now, since he is out of my way now it makes things a lot simpler."

"You monster how could you do that to Kralus, what did he ever do to you?"

"Let's not get in to that otherwise we will be here all night, now it's your turn."

Her eyes showed shock as he pushed her into the fast slowing water, I wasn't able to do anything except watch her go underwater a couple of times and the fifth time she didn't come up anymore. My heart sank I wanted to tell her I was there and that everything would be fine but a very a cold laughter rang in the air.

I could hear someone calling me and I began to look at the water thinking it was Sarah but it couldn't be because I was quickly going further away from this place. Waking up I saw Emily's concerned face looking down at me; her greyish blue eyes fill of worry.

"Are you all right? I could hear you speaking in sleep, is everything all right?"

"Yeah everything is fine, where are we?"

"We are at the last stop for this bus; driver is waiting for us to get off."

"Already?"

"It's been five hours since we got on the bus."

"I guess I have been asleep for a long time I said slowly getting up where is Nancy?"

"She's already gotten off the bus with all the bags and everything she told me to wake you up."

"Right let's get going."

Quickly getting out of the bus we met up with Nancy who was no sitting on a bench with two bags on either side.

"So what now?"

"We rest for the night we all need it, Emily don't you have to go get home?"

It was like she had forgotten everything, the look on her face showed that she was in trouble now.

"Oh no dad is going to kill me, I was meant to meet him at a party in the evening."

"Where do you have to go exactly?" "Is it far from here?"

"Yes it is, it would take me at least an hour maybe more to get there." "Oh no what should I do?

"Call him up and tell him what happened, I'm sure that he will be more worried than angry."

"Nancy you don't know my dad, also the thing is that he offered to send a car to get me there but I declined."

"Well we can't really help you there , I mean we can't exactly tell your father that you with us all evening-"

"That's a great idea Kralus, both of you come with me to the party it would make explaining things a lot easier."

"No we can't we really have to get-"

"If you guys come ill make sure to get both of you on a flight first thing tomorrow."

"But neither of us has a passport, how can we fly?"

"Hmmm...we will think about that once we get to that point for now please agree to come with me to the party"

"Give us a few minutes to discuss this please."

"Sure take your time."

As she walked a few paces away Nancy gave me the, what should we do look.

"Well we need to get to this Ottawa place in Canada as quickly as we can; if she can provide us a faster means of transport then we should go along."

"But what if she can't then what?"

"Well then we just carry on with our original plan, I know that I'm the one who is going to be losing out on this and I know how important it is for me to get there as quickly as possible."

"Sigh okay it's your call; I just hope this doesn't fall back on us."

"Hey Emily we have decided to come along with you as long as you can provide us the means to get to Ottawa tomorrow."

"YES! Thanks a lot guys I promise you tomorrow you will be on your way to Ottawa. Now come on we have to hurry and get back."

She started looking around to see if a bus was coming but there nothing on either side of the road, after about fifteen minutes a yellow car was approaching and she got it to stop.

A/N: Okay that was the end of the sixth chapter, a lot of things happened in here I hope that it wasn't confusing and i hope that you enjoyed reading it :)

So please review ^_^


	7. Chapter 7

A/N: Wow this time round I have been gone a long time, I hope that this chapter makes up for that absence.  
Again I do not own PJO or any of the characters associated with it, however I do own the Plot to this story and the characters shown within it.

Hope you like the chapter :)

Chapter 7  
Old enemies and New friends

We were in that car for about a good hour and a half, soon enough it came to a stop in a very rich looking place. The houses did not look very ordinary they were much bigger, the place where we had stopped in front of had a huge black and gold lined gate with a huge D on either side.

The house itself looked even grander, there were at least a dozen lamps lighting the way up to the house and the entrance looked to have been made from marble. To me it seemed like I was walking into a temple made for Zeus, from the inside I could hear very melodious music being played and a lot of chatter.

"Emily who are you?"

"What do you mean?"

"No ordinary girl can have a place like this, who are you?"

At this she started laughing; she must have been thinking that I have gone mad.

"I told you my name is Emily Dawn, which is the truth I mean why would I lie about my name."

I didn't say anymore I just looked over at Nancy who was in deep thought about something and after a few minutes her eyes seemed to light up.

"You are the daughter of Elizabeth Dawn, the owner of the biggest pharmaceuticals in America."

"Um yeah" said Emily rather shyly "Sorry I didn't tell you before."

"So those guys were chasing you because of that?"

"Let's not get into that, let's go inside now I will introduce you to my mom and dad hoping that they aren't mad at me for being late."

"So your dad is Jonathan Dawn?"

"Yeah" she said her face going slightly red.

She opened the doors and all eyes turned on us, it felt rather awkward as everyone there was wearing rather formal clothes and we were wearing very informal clothes.  
A woman wearing a lovely black dress was walking over to us with a very warm smile on her face. Her deep blue eyes were sparkling with joy and her flaming red hair was flowing elegantly.

"Emily it's good that you made it, your father was starting to doubt that you would come and who are your friends dear?"

"Mom this is Nancy and Kralus, they helped me out this afternoon when I got in to trouble this afternoon."

"Is everything all right honey? You're not hurt are you? What happened?"

"Nothing much mom, it was just a bunch of thieves that wanted to take my cell phone and they chased me when I ran from there." "That was when I bumped into Kralus and Nancy, with their help I lost the thugs."

"Well I want to thank both of you a lot for your help kids, please join us this evening."

"Thank you Mrs Dawn."

"Mom I have a favour to ask of you."

"Sure honey, what is it? Do you need anything?"

"Well my friends were on their way to Ottawa when they helped me out, could you possibly help them?"

"Sure honey, I have some work at Ottawa but I'm leaving the day after if they are willing to wait I'll be happy to have them come with me."

"Wow that is really nice of you Mrs Dawn, we would really appreciate that."

"I guess that is you guys sorted then" said Emily smiling.

"Thanks Emily, you don't know how big a favour you have done for us."

"Don't worry about it guys, you two have helped me quite a bit today and if it wasn't for you I would have been locked up somewhere" whispered Emily.

"Emily go upstairs and get ready, I'll take care of your friends for a while" smiled Mrs Dawn.

"I watched as Emily slowly walked up the glamorous staircase while smiling at a lot of the guests and me."

As she disappeared to one of the rooms upstairs Mrs Dawn turned her attention to us.

"Come with me I'll get you something to eat, you can also tell me about what happened this afternoon."

"I think Emily has said everything to you about this afternoon."

"Kralus my daughter doesn't like to worry me so she just told me some mumbo jumbo; I would like it if you told me the truth."

"Mrs Dawn I'm sorry to say but you have to trust your daughter a little more, as far as what happened this afternoon goes all I have to say is that we bumped into her when she was being chased."

"Sigh I guess I have no choice but to believe you, I guess I am just worried that because of my reputation a lot of people will try to take advantage of her."

"You know dear you don't have to worry so much about her, she's not a little girl anymore said a voice from behind us."

Behind us was a man wearing a brown suit, his brown eyes looked very tired behind his black rimmed glasses but his neatly combed hair showed a sign of youth.

"Kids this is Emily's father and my husband Jonathan, Jonathan this is Kralus and Nancy they are friends of Emily's."

"Emily's friends? Well it's a pleasure meeting you I hope you will be joining us this evening."

"Professor Dawn I have gone to see all your findings at the museum and read all of your works I think it's really inspiring" said Nancy

"Thank you dear a little later on I am about to reveal my latest discovery."

"I can't wait" said Nancy beaming

"Well kids I'll leave you alone with my wife to show you around I'm just going to meet a few friends."

"Sure, have a good evening sir" I said rather abruptly

As Mr Dawn walked away Nancy looked at me like I had just slapped her, she pulled me close and began whispering.

"Kralus you have to be more courteous than that, he's the leading archaeologist in the field of Greek mythology."

"So if he finds out he's going to put me in a museum?"

"Kralus be a bit more considerate."

"Okay, okay I'm sorry."

While we were talking Emily was walking down the stairs in a stunning midnight blue dress which seemed to bring out her eyes more. As she walked towards us a lot of eyes turned to look at her, some admiring, some jealous and some conspiring.

A boy no older than me walked out of the crowd and stood in front of her, his golden blonde hair looked like it had been glued in place and even as he walked his hair didn't move a bit.  
His green eyes seemed to be sparkling with mischief as he took her hand in his.

"You look very beautiful Emily; may I have the pleasure of dancing with you today?"

She looked around at everyone before answering, she seemed rather reluctant but she had to give an answer.

"Um I'm sorry Chris today my dance partner is going to be Kralus."

At hearing this my eyes widened, seeing the smile on her face and the shocked look on Chris I felt bad and I whispered to her as she got closer.

"I don't know how to dance Emily, it would be better if you choose someone who can dance if you value your toes."

"I'm sure I'll be fine besides I know that you won't hurt me, just think of this like the school ball."

"Um sure, but I don't think you can count on me for letting you get out of this without injuries."

"We'll see about that, for now let's just go get something to drink."

As we were walking away I saw Mrs Dawn walking over to the entrance as someone walked in but I could see everyone walking over in that direction to welcome them.  
As Emily handed a drink to me and went to get one for Nancy I thought that I heard a very honey sweetened voice the only thing is I didn't know how right I was about that...well not that at that time anyway.

"So Emily who is this guest of honour then? It seems that they are quite well known."

"Well they are quite famous I'm surprised that you haven't heard of them, I mean those three kind of rule the music world." "Not literally of course but they have the skills to do it, one of them is a master pianist the other an opera singer and the last is a jazz musician."

"Wow that is quite a bit of talent they have, what are they doing here?"

"Well my father invited them for the party, they are going to be singing and playing for us this evening."

"Wow I can't wait to hear them."

"Through the crowd of people I was trying to get a look at what these sisters looked like but I couldn't see them very clearly."

"I didn't know why but their voices sounded very familiar I just wasn't able to put my finger on it."

Little by little the crowd began to thin but by then I was engrossed in a conversation with Nancy and Emily had gone to get another round of drinks. When she came back Mr Dawn was standing in the middle of the room with a wine glass in his hand looking to say something.

Ladies and Gentlemen can I get your attention please; firstly I would like to thank you all for gathering here this evening for this very special occasion. Secondly I would like to thank the Costello sisters who will be providing us with the entertainment tonight.

A round of applause erupted from the onlookers as if acknowledging what had just been said, there wasn't one person who looked disappointed which raised my intrigue.

"Now before they begin I would like to show you the reason why you have all gathered here tonight."

At this Mr Dawn covered the microphone and gave someone close by an order, it wasn't long before the same person came running back giving a thumbs up sign.

"Well ladies and gentlemen may I present the armour of the legendary warrior Achilles."

I couldn't believe what I was hearing; there was no way that the armour of Achilles could be here. The last I heard it was kept in a secret location that the gods had decided upon, however the armour wasn't the only thing that was stored there so if they found the armour they must have found everything else.

As I didn't believe any of this I went forward to have a look at what was being brought into the room, it was covered by a very soft looking red fabric so that the surprise wasn't ruined.  
Very slowly he took off the red fabric, the sight was almost unbelievable there being perfectly held in place was the black armour of Achilles made by Hephaestus and given to him by his mother Thetis.

The black armour had a certain gleam about it even though it had no wearer it still looked magnificent, the craftsmanship was unmatchable as well as incomparable. I got even closer to the pedestal to see if it was a forgery and it seemed like I wasn't the only one, the sisters who had been invited to perform for the guests also wanted to get a closer look.

Walking around I accidently bumped into one of them, as I looked at her I felt kind of weird it was like I was slipping out of my consciousness.

"I...I'm sorry."

"No don't worry about it, it happens" she said smiling. "I'm not sure we have met."

"No we haven't, I'm a friend of Emily's."

"Ah well my name is Danni, it's nice to meet you."

"Well it's nice to meet you too my name is-"

At that point Emily came and dragged me away as I was walking away I saw the other two sisters walk up to Danni. Each of them started talking to the other and kept looking at me like I had said something disrespectful to them.

"Emily I was talking to that girl that was quite rude of you."

"Rude shooed I don't want them hogging you as well; you're my friend so sit with me and Nancy we'll have a nice time."

"Okay, but I have to ask you when your father found this."

"I have no idea sorry, I don't exactly see him that much and to tell you the truth I don't exactly get along with him that much." 2You see about four years ago before he discovered the hydra at the Parthenon in Nashville he was very loving and caring, he would spend a lot of time with me." "We would do a lot of things together but all that stopped once he discovered it, he became obsessed with this idea that myths aren't exactly what they seem."

"What do you mean they aren't exactly what they seem?"

"I mean he actually started to believe that they still exist to this day."

"Really, I don't know what to say" I said looking down at the floor trying to hide my smile.

"Neither do I, but I really do miss the old times and because of his job it's never been the same."

"Well let's forget about that for now and talk about something else...what are you doing at the moment?"

"Well at the moment I'm studying for a degree in college majoring in geography, I have a dream to become a pilot and travel around the world."

"Wow that is really nice, so you love travelling?"

"Yeah I love to travel around; I love to explore see new places and most of all I love to fly." "Watching the morning sun rise above the clouds is really majestic, the stars and the moon look even dreamier up there."

"I guess so, I have never flown anywhere in a long time so I have kind of forgotten about that."

"Trust me apart from the pollution factor which has been making it really hard to see stars in the city, when you're in the air there is nothing there only clear skies."

"I can't wait" I said smiling.

"Right now enough of this lets go dance, Nancy you wait here for a bit then we will switch."

"Sure" said Nancy holding up her glass.

By the look on her face I thought she didn't look very pleased, as we reached the centre of the room guests parted to make space for us. It wasn't long before the lights dimmed and the Costello sisters began their act. The way that the piano was being played along with the very soothing voice made it feel like I was in another place all together.

Emily took my hand placing it on her hip and held the other, she was very graceful in moving however it took me a while to get hold of the rhythm but after that I was fine.

"See you can dance" said Emily smiling.

"Well this is the first time I have been able to dance this well" I said looking into her eyes.

"Well I guess you just didn't meet the right dance partner till now" she said looking into my eyes.

It wasn't until now that I noticed that no one was watching us, everyone was watching the Costello sisters. As I looked away from Emily's eyes I became entranced, I didn't know what it was but I suddenly loved the Costello sisters.

"Hello anyone here? Kralus you're meant to be dance with me. Kralus?"

It wasn't until that she turned my face towards her that I stopped looking at the sisters.

"I guess you want to go dance with them" said Emily looking rather annoyed.

"No its nothing like that, it's just that their voice is so captivating but I'm sure that you can sing better than them if you tried."

"Well um I don't know about better but I'm sure that I could sing somewhat" said Emily blushing.

It seemed like the sisters heard this and they all turned their gaze towards us, it felt weird but I felt like I had been in the same situation before. It took only a few seconds but I realized why it all seemed so familiar, these three sisters were the three sirens that I had met years ago when I was with Sarah.

"Hey Emily how about we go get some drinks, I'm feeling thirsty."

"Uh yeah sure come on."

We left the dance floor with the gaze of the sirens upon us, it felt like they were now watching our every move. We got to the place where Nancy was sitting looking very bored yet enjoying a pint sized coke with a slice of lemon.

"Back so quickly, weren't you going to dance for longer?"

"Yeah we were but I was feeling a little thirsty so we came back for a drink."

"So what do you think of this song?"

"What do you mean?"

"I mean does it have a good tune to dance to, from the tempo I can tell that it's meant to be a slow dance but this is slow beyond torture."

"Hahahahahahahaha."

"Yeah I know what you mean" said Emily "I'm not such a fan of slow romantic songs myself, I prefer something a little more upbeat myself."

"Upbeat eh...like tango or samba perhaps."

"Well tango I'm good at but samba not so much" said Emily.

Hearing the two of them talk made me feel left out, in any case I had to pay a visit to the bathroom. After asking Emily where I could find it I walked off not noticing the fact one of the sisters was following me, climbing up to the second floor made it seem like I was in a totally different place all together.

It was a lot quieter up here, looking around there were a lot of expensive looking paintings hanging on the wall. As I walked admiring them I came to the bathroom, going in I heard some footsteps thinking it to be my imagination I let it go.

After a few minutes I washed my hands and properly dried them as I opened the door someone pulled me out slamming me against the pillar on the other side.

"And who may you be?"

"Don't tell me you have already forgotten us that easily after humiliating us the last time we met" said a very sweet voice.

"Oh so it's you Danni or should I say Danica."

"So you haven't forgotten my name then, I hope the same can be said for my sisters."

"Danni tell me why are the three of you here tonight? I mean what's so special."

"Why should I tell you?"

"For old times' sake come on, we used to know each other I'm sure you haven't forgotten that."

"I...well...fine." "We were originally just invited to perform nothing more but I guess now we have found another reason to stay here."

"What would that be?"

"The armour of Achilles."

"You seriously believe that is the real armour of Achilles, I mean come on it looks nothing like the real thing."

"You know it has been a very long time, time changes everything and the armour that once glistened like the morning sun is no exception."

"Well...I guess you could be right but I'm not too sure about this, it all seems too perfect there has to be something wrong."

"Well we are planning to walk out of here with the armour by the end of this night, real or not we will take it with us."

"What are you going to do with it?"

"Nothing, it is a very powerful relic a lot of people will be after it once they realize that it has been found."

"I'm not sure I trust you."

"Kralus what is in the past should stay in the past."

"Still I'm not sure I can fully trust you yet."

"Well think whatever you want, I'll get going now it was nice meeting you said Danni as she slowly slid her hand down my face."

I watched as she walked down the hall, I didn't know how to react to what had just happened. One of my oldest enemies has just become quite friendly, with a very confused look on my face I walked down the stairs but when I reach the bottom I was even more confused.

Everyone was collapsed on the ground; there wasn't a single person who was standing. I walked over to where Nancy and Emily had been sitting to find them crumpled on the table. I checked for a pulse on both of them and found that they were both breathing regularly which was a relief.

I could hear Nancy mumbling something in her sleep but it wasn't audible enough for me to hear what she was saying, from the looks of things everyone had been sent to sleep and it was through the silence that I was able to hear footsteps from outside.

Running outside I saw the sisters carrying the armour to a car.

"Stop right there."

"Who can resist our voices- Danni didn't you stop him?"

"Well I tried to I'm not sure how he recovered so quickly."

"Never mind I guess we will have to take care of him now."

As I watched the three of them put the armour in the car and came towards me, even though they had just stolen an artefact no one could tell that it was them. They had a very calm, cool look on their faces; in any case I don't think anyone would be awake at the moment to witness this.

They circled me like hungry vultures looking at their first meal in days; the only thing was that they were more dangerous than vultures.

"Kralus we don't want to fight, just give us that armour and we will be gone."

"I can't do that Veronica that armour doesn't belong to you."

"Well I'm sorry it had to be this way."

She ran trying to punch me but I moved out of the way, the next few things that happened were a blur. As I had dodged Veronica's punch, Danni kicked me in the ribs and Michelle punched me in the back but they were so fast I couldn't react.

"You have been gone for too long Kralus, we have been training in new fighting methods, which we have become masters of and now I doubt even you could defeat us."

"Oh we'll soon see about that."

Once again Veronica attacked but this time instead of dodging I parried her attack into the path of Danni and Michelle. All of them collided into each other trying to stop each other's attacks, while they were trying to get up I ran for the car but none of the doors were opening.

"Looking for these" said a very honey sweetened voice from behind me.

Looking back I saw a set of keys dangling from Danni's fingers and knew that she locked the door. While she had my attention the other two attacked me with a kick to the chest, I flew back taking the side mirror of the car with me.

Landing on the soft grass was lucky but what happened next wasn't, a dog came out of the shadows and started growling at me. It seemed that I wasn't the only one that the dog had noticed, the look on Veronica's face changed when she saw the dog and tried to run away.

It jumped over me going after Veronica, jumping on her back it brought her down to the ground. She began screaming like she was scared of it; I looked at her like she had gone crazy. How could a siren be afraid of a dog, walking up to where she lay I looked at her with sympathy.

"Kralus get it off me."

"Nope, why don't you ask your sisters?"

"Kralus please, I'm really scared."

"How are you guys scared of a dog? I mean you guys are sirens, mythical beasts you should easily be able to keep house pets like this at bay."

"Dammit come on Kralus help us out."

"Promise me that you will give back the armour only then will I take the dog off you."

"Ugh that's low Kralus" said Danni

"I'm pretty sure you guys would have tried to kill me if this dog didn't appear, so what will it be?"

"Sigh fine" said Veronica now come on get this mutt away from me.

"Come on boy come here."

The dog looked up and obediently came to me sitting down at my feet.

"That's a good boy, now stay here."

I walked up to Danni with my hand outstretched; unwillingly she put the car keys in my hand.

"Thank you."

Opening the car I saw the armour in the back seat, I grabbed the armour and quickly ran back inside. Inside the house everyone was starting to come around, I wouldn't have enough time to put the armour back and get to the stair case.

Running across the room I saw Mrs Dawn waking up from the corner of my eye, the only good luck I had was the fact that the pedestal was at the back of the room. I got there just in time; hastily I put the armour on the pedestal and made it look like I was admiring the craftsmanship.

As everyone was now wondering what happened I slowly walked to where Nancy and Emily were sleeping, as they woke up they had a very stupid looking on their faces.

"Good morning girls, how are you?"

"Huh! Ugh my head, what happened?" Asked Emily

"I have no idea, I came back from the bathroom and you guys were sleeping. It wasn't only you everyone was asleep, can you remember anything?"

"Well all I remember is that the sisters started singing all together and that's about it really nothing after that."

"Well I'm not sure what happened but I think everyone just fell asleep."

I saw Nancy looking at me trying to find out what I was hiding, it was a good thing that she wasn't able to read minds otherwise she would know more than she ought to. Around the room there was a lot of commotion as everyone tried to account for all their belongings, Mr Dawn stood at the foot of the stairs trying to get everyone's attention.

"Everyone please calm down, it seems that none of us are missing anything so if we can let's continue this party."

There were murmurs going around the room like a swarm of bees, very slowly everyone started getting drinks to try and relax. The rest of the night was rather peaceful not much went on really, the Costello sisters came back into the house after a while with the excuse of being called out by their agent.

Mr Dawn had the armour shifted to a secure room and Mrs Dawn was busy tending to the guests while we just sat at the table drinking endless supplies of Coke and Fanta. It wasn't until midnight that the party came to a stop, guests started making their way home, the servants started to clean up the mess made.

Both Nancy and I were leaving when Mrs Dawn stopped us, she told us we could stay the night as we were going to leave with her the day after.

A/N: Yeah I know nothing much happened in this chapter, those of you looking for cool fight scenes sorry they wont be around for a while :( You're not the only one who misses them.

Please Review :)


	8. Chapter 8

A/N: Wow this time round I have been gone a long time, had a writers block for a while and it took quite a bit of time for me to get over that. Now though everything is back on track.  
Again I do not own PJO or any of the characters associated with it, however I do own the Plot to this story and the characters shown within it.

One more thing I would just like to wish my little sis a very happy birthday, I hope that she enjoyed the day. If she is reading this I would like to let her know that I miss her very much :)

Oh another thing I haven't really been able to come up with a name for this chapter, if you have some suggestions i would like to hear them and please guys be nice lol no flames on chapters names.

Hope you like the chapter :)

Chapter 8

Waking up the next morning felt really arduous, as I slowly opened my eyes I felt like I was in a dream world.  
Looking around the room was very exquisitely decorated, it wasn't long before I realized that I was at Emily's house and flashes of the previous night came before my eyes.

Smiling at myself I got out of bed and made my way to the bathroom, it was quite big seeing as it was joined to the room. There was quite a big sink with a very big mirror to my right as I walked in; a large shower and a tub were at the back of the room.

Turning on the shower I walked in, nothing could be heard over the water hitting the marble floor.  
The warm water was causing a lot of steam to form making it very hard to see anything, I didn't know but there was someone in my room. I was done with the shower so I turned it off and walked out; grabbing a towel from the rack I began drying myself.

As I went to open to door it opened by itself and all the steam went out, as the steam cleared I saw Emily standing in front of me.  
There was silence while the steam cleared out; her eyes took in the sight that was before her and she saw that all I was wearing was a towel her face flushed a very bright red.

A scream rang through the morning air, Nancy came running through the door like she was going to steam roller whoever stood in her way and at seeing the sight in front of her stopped.  
Looking rather angry she tossed me my jeans, shirt and walked away with Emily at her side.

"Get ready we're going to be going out in a while."

"Where are we going?" I asked before she loudly shut the door behind herself.

Quickly putting on the jeans and shirt I threw the wet towel onto the bed, grabbing my jacket from the nearby chair I walked out the door.  
By the looks of things I was at the east wing of the house, I didn't exactly have enough time to have a look around the house last night but it was huge and by the looks of things quite lavishly decorated.

It must have at least ten bedrooms I thought walking down the stairs; it was only now that I realized that I didn't know where the girls were waiting for me.  
Reaching the bottom of the stair case I heard Nancy calling out to me, seeing her standing at the door way looking quite angry made me wonder what would be my fate for the rest of the day.

"Hey, what about breakfast?"

"We already had it; you were a little too late in waking up so you missed out."

"Awww come on that's not fair, why are you so angry this morning?"

"You mean to say that even after appearing in front of Emily with almost no clothes on, you don't know why I'm angry."

"No, that wasn't my fault she walked into the room unannounced whilst I was having a shower." "It isn't my fault that I was wearing only a towel."

"Not your fault! You could have at least woken up early and had a shower."

"Why are you so bothered about it?"

At this her face went cherry red, there was a long silence which was broken by Emily, and she was calling us from the inside of a black car. She looked very happy for someone who was very shocked just half an hour ago.

"Come on guys hurry up" she said excitedly.

"Would someone tell me where we are going?" I asked as I sat in the car it's really annoying me that I don't know where we are going.

"We're not going to eat you Kralus, we're just going to the mall and then we will just spend the day roaming the city."

"Roaming the city?"

"Yeah you know, relaxing going to a few places eating joking around that sort of thing" said Nancy rather nonchalantly.

"Okay...couldn't we do those things at the house? I mean what is the point of going out, it's not like we haven't seen anything out in the city."

"Oh lighten up Kralus; I'm sure that you will enjoy it."

I didn't know what else to say we had just side tracked out quest to take a day off, I wasn't sure how this would play out but I knew that nothing good could come out of this.

The car drove out of the estate in the same direction that we had come in the other night with a few exceptions here and there but we were definitely going back the way we had come.

We had been driving at a slow pace for a while now, we turned into a road where a lot of decorated buildings stood each more unique than the other. All of them had very different names and from the looks of things sold very different wares, finally the car came to a stop and both girls got out first.

Getting out of the car we stood in front of red bricked building, right in the middle in big letters said The MALL. Through the windows you could see a lot of people inside walking around looking at things.

"Are you just going to stand there are you going to come inside" asked Emily

"I have no choice do I, I guess I'll just have to try to enjoy myself I said walking up to where they stood. Now where to first?"

"Well we are going to cover all the shops on each floor so let's start with the closest one" said Emily rather excitedly.

We walked into a gold shop, the girls began looking at the items on display while I went and sat down. This routine continued for quite a while until we got to the second floor, here all the shops had clothes stocked, I really couldn't understand the difference between two jeans. They both looked the same, there was no difference in price but the girls weren't able to stop comparing them.

Leaving them to what they were doing I walked out of the store and sat on a bench outside, sitting there staring up at the ceiling I felt rather helpless knowing that at this point in time Sarah was out there somewhere and I couldn't do anything for a whole day just made me get angry.

Closing my eyes all I could hear was the hustle and bustle of the people walking around with their shopping, I opened my eyes as I heard my name being called. I was expecting to see Emily and Nancy standing there with a few bags about to say let's go home but I wasn't that lucky.

Instead I saw a group of three girls staring at me; it was like they never expected me to be there, each of them carried a green bag which looked like it was filled with more than its fair share of things. It took me a few seconds but I recognised two of them but third I didn't know.

"Hey Angelina Kathleen what are you guys doing here?" "Did Chiron send you out to get groceries?"

"No camp half-blood has its own supply of everything so there is no need to shop" said the other girl.

"I'm sorry but we have never met."

"Oh sorry I forgot to introduce myself; my name is Louise Stiefel I'm from the Hermes cabin."

"Ah it's very nice to meet you my name is Kralus."

"I know, the whole camp has been talking about the son of Zeus for the past couple of week." "You really have made an impression on everyone at the camp" said Louise rather shyly

"I-thank you, I hope that it's a good impression." "So how are you guys down here? Is there any trouble?"

"Trouble is one way of putting it, we are on another quest" said Kathleen.

"Quest what quest?"

They sat down and began telling me about the quest that they had been given, at the end of their explanation there were too many questions that I had to ask.

"So you guys are out looking for the blades of Athena?"

"Yeah that is our quest Chiron told us that a bunch of other things were missing as well so this isn't just your average thief."

"Hold on so you're telling me that there is someone out there with Athena's blades, which is impossible." "She doesn't just leave them lying around."

"That is what we said to Chiron but it seemed like even he didn't have the answer" said Angelina.

"What if they aren't the real thing, I mean gods don't leave their weapons out for show" I said rather calmly.

"Well even if the blades aren't the real thing what about the rest of the things that were stolen."

"What other things were stolen and where from?"

"Well there was the armour of Achilles, an ancient frost hilt and an ice dagger that's about it really."

"I can understand the thing about the armour of Achilles but an ancient frost hilt and an ice dagger?"

"I'm not sure about the hilt and the dagger but something like the armour shouldn't be out there somewhere."

"Well I know what you mean about the armour, even after seeing it I don't believe that it's the real thing."

"You've seen the armour? Where is it?"

"I saw it at her house" I said pointing to Emily inside the store her father was the one that found it.

"Who is she?" Asked Louise.

"Her name is Emily Dawn, we met yesterday and she was in trouble we helped her out a little so now she's helping us."

"So she's the heiress to the Dawn Empire" said Angelina rather distastefully "she doesn't look too bad but I'm sure she doesn't look more beautiful than me."

"Yeah well the armour is at their house at the moment it's going to be shifted to the museum this afternoon, so whatever you guys are thinking of doing do it after it has been shifted. "

"Another thing is be careful when you are going after the armour you're not the only ones who are thinking of getting it."

"What do you mean?"

"All I'm going to say is watch your back and be ready for a fight."

Before anyone of them could try to ask a question Nancy and Emily walked up to where we were sitting with a few bags in their hands. Nancy looked quite surprised to see both Angelina and Kathleen; Emily on the other hand didn't look very pleased to see them.

"Angelina, Kathy what a pleasant surprise, how come you guys are here?"

"Well we are on-" Began Angelina but Louise cut her off.

"We are here just to get a few things nothing more; by the way my name is Louise."

"It's nice to meet you Louise, my name is Nancy and this is Emily." "So have you guys found what you came for?"

"Not yet but we now know where to find it" said Louise smiling "I'm pretty sure we will get what we are looking for very soon."

"Well it was nice meeting you guys, but we have to go now" said Emily brashly.

"I think we can stick around for a bit longer" I said smiling "besides we don't have anything else to do."

"Yeah I think the day would be a lot more fun with a lot more friends" said Nancy.

At this point it looked Emily had been forced in to agreeing with us, Nancy took the girls with them to window shop and I was back to staring at the ceiling. I started thinking about what Kathy had said before about their quest, out of the things there the only one that I recognised as seemingly dangerous was the armour.

I didn't have enough knowledge about the hilt and the dagger to be able to come to any conclusions. Getting up I began looking around through the windows of various shops. Seeing all those people smile I wondered if Sarah would smile the same way once we got back together.

While day dreaming I accidently bumped into someone, looking at the person it was quite easy to see who it was. The biggest give away was the killer hundred watt smile; this time around the clothes were a bit different. He was wearing a black t-shirt with a yellow smiley face in the middle, frosted blue jeans gave him a very rebellious look and his eyes as always were very warm with affection.

"Hey Kralus how's everything going?"

"Apollo it's good to see you, what brings you here today?"

"What can't I even come to see my brother?"

"I didn't say you couldn't I was just wondering what brought you here today, so far things haven't been very good, first being attacked by a Nemean lion and a minotaur on the same day then bumping into the Costello sisters last night and today is the worst."

"Seems like you have been having quite the fun these first few days, I understand that you are very jumpy about getting to Canada but do you even know where in Canada she's being kept?"

"No but I'll find her no matter what, I can't lose her again" I said sternly

Apollo smiled at me.

"I hope that the two of you finally meet again."

"There are a lot of things I have to ask her when I find her, Apollo can you help me just tell me the place where she's being kept."

"Nope sorry Kralus I'm not allowed to interfere with quests, none of us gods are allowed to aid demigods in any way order from Zeus himself."

"But I'm not demigod I'm a god."

"Kralus right now you are living as a demigod so you will have to adjust will all of this, in time I'm sure that you will get your powers back and you won't need my help."

Just then the girls walked out of the shop behind me, I turned around as Apollo pointed to them but when I turned back he was gone.

"Kralus were you looking for us?" Asked Emily seemingly happy

"No I was just walking around, there was nothing else to do I was feeling rather bored."

"No worries you won't feel bored for much longer, we'll go to a bowling alley soon after we eat."

"Well I was getting hungry, what are we going to eat?" "Is it that bagel again?"

"Not that's like a breakfast dish, you can't have that for lunch...well you can but it won't be that filling" said Nancy.

"Okay then what are we going to have to eat then?"

"Let's go to the place then we will decide" said Emily

"I'm okay with that, as long as I get something to eat" I said smiling

Going up to the third floor we found quite a few shops that were selling a variety of food and beverages. The air itself was a mixture of various flavours which entice you to try everything; we went to one of the tables in the seating area and decided on what everyone was going to have.

Then Emily went to the counter and gave the order, looking around the place it had quite a nice atmosphere it was very cosy. Emily returned to her chair and began talking to Nancy; the other girls were talking in low whispers to make sure that Emily didn't overhear their conversation.

I didn't have a clue what Emily was talking about but I could see her eyes shifting over to me every now and then, it wasn't long before the drinks arrived. I personally felt a lot better after gulping down some cold Fanta, I felt like the odd one out in this group of girls. I no longer had any idea why I was there but funny enough I didn't care about that so much I was lost in my own thoughts.

It wasn't until Angelina snapped her fingers under my nose that I realized that the food had arrived, quietly tucking into the food I continued devising plans on how to find Sarah in my mind.  
Between each mouthful of pasta I would wave my fork in a circle motion as if trying to find flaws in my own plans, I didn't know it then but the girls were looking at me like I had finally lost it.

I didn't know if no one was saying anything because they preferred the silence or they were just shocked with my antics, even without asking somewhere in my mind I knew it was the latter.

After eating the girls were ready to go to the bowling alley, telling them that I needed some fresh air I left them. There was something that was making me feel very uneasy and it definitely wasn't the pasta.

"Kralus once you feel like it come and join us, I'm sure you will enjoy."

"Will do; just make sure you guys don't start without me."

Disappearing through a crowd of people I quickly left the mall, outside wasn't as noisy sure there were cars on the road but they weren't as frequent. Walking up to one of the many benches I sat down and tried to clear my mind, very slowly the scent of honey and jasmine began to dissipate in the air.

A very sweet voice called out to me, opening one eye I saw the most beautiful woman in the world sitting next to me, her low cut red silk dress was perfect. Her eyes were forever changing as if they could not decide on the colour they should be, her long blonde hair shone like the rising sun and her smile was enough to make even the coldest of hearts melt.

"Aphrodite how come you're here today, anything special?"

"Am I not allowed to be here?" pouted Aphrodite .

"No I didn't mean that, Apollo was here about an hour ago now you're here." "Did I hit a jackpot with the gods or is something bad going to happen?"

At this her eyes slightly shifted from me as if trying to banish a thought into the darker regions of the mind, turning her eyes back to me she smiled warmly.

"You're just lucky I guess, you always get the attention of everyone"smiled Aphrodite.

"Yeah but is that attention always for the right reasons?"

"Hey don't be like that attention is always good, it means people love you and care about you."

"But do they really love and care for me?" "Or is it all an illusion?"

"Kralus even if you forget all else just remember this, love is never an illusion sure at times it can be thought of like that but true love will always be what it is."

"What if you love is taken for granted?" "Then what?" I scowled

"Well then it just wasn't meant to be, Kralus what you had with Sarah was special nothing can replace that." "I understand that you have been through a lot when you lost her but that doesn't mean you forget everything else, right now you have new friends that care for you don't make them feel like you don't care about them."

"But it's not like that."

"If it's not like that then how come you're here when they are at the bowling alley?"

"I..."

"Kralus you have to loosen up a bit, you now know that Sarah is alive so you can save her I know it but that doesn't stop you from having fun" smiled Aphrodite.

"I guess I'm just worried what if I don't find her then what happens?"

"You already know where she is, there is no way you won't find her" smirked Aphrodite.

"I already know where she is?" "What do you mean?" "Aphrodite are you hiding something from me?"

"Huh! Come on your my brother why would I hide anything from you, I guess I better get going otherwise I'm going to be late."

"Late for what?"

"Oh you don't have to worry about that, you go have fun."

At that she got up and just vanished into thin air, very slowly I got up and walked towards the mall again. Walking in I realized I didn't know where the bowling alley was, looking around I saw a help desk with a very bored looking man in his mid-thirties sitting there watching people walking by as if he didn't exist.

"Hi could you tell me where the bowling alley is here?"

He gave me a piercing look as if trying to judge whether he should tell me or not, after a few seconds his expression softened and pointed behind him.

"Right thanks."

As I walked down the corridor a lot of lights flashed across the walls, on one side there were kids playing on various machines and on the other side there were nine lanes with pins at the end of them.

A lot of the lanes looked occupied but there were a few that were free, I saw the girls gearing up at on the ninth lane. Just as they were wearing their shoes I patted Emily on the shoulder and she jumped looked pretty surprised.

"I thought you weren't going to be joining us."

"Well I met someone I knew so it took me a while to get back sorry; you guys haven't started have you?"

"No we were just going to; you just made it back in time now we can have a balanced game." "Just go to the desk over there and get some shoes."

Walking over to the desk I saw a set of shelves nearly rising up to the ceiling, a boy with ginger hair, freckles around his nose. He wore blue jeans and a blue shirt which had the name of the bowling alley printed in the corner pocket. He walked over to where I stood as if waiting for something, finally he spoke and he sounded a lot more bored than he looked.

"What size do you need?"

Looking down at my shoes I had no idea what size they were, taking one off I gave it to him.

"The same size as that thanks" I smiled.

He looked at the shoe then back at me as if I had just insulted him, taking the shoe he walked over to the shelf looking at each row and finally after a while he found the same size.

"Here you go give me the other shoe as well."

Taking off the other shoe I handed it to him and he gave me these white shoes which were no different than the converses that I had on but I guess there must have been different in one way or another.

Sitting down on one of the closer benches I put the shoes on then walked over to the ninth lane where it looked like the girls had begun splitting off into teams.

"Well seeing as you guys have already split up ill join the team with the least players."

A sigh of relief came from both Emily and Louise as I sat down beside them, I didn't know if they knew but I had no previous experience with bowling. As I watched everyone was writing their names down on this screen, as Emily went to write her name I asked her to kindly write mine as well.

It wasn't long before we started playing first up was Kathy, getting up she chose for herself a round black ball which had three finger holes. Doing a slow run up she pelted the ball down the lane, it decimated all the pins on contact and at seeing that she jumped for joy.

One by one everyone got their turn and surprisingly everyone managed to knock down all the pins. It was quite fun everyone was smiling all worries seemed to be forgotten, finally I threw the last ball and we began to tally up every ones scores.

It looked like both sides were evenly matched neither side was complaining about the score or the outcome. The girls all looked very tired, I looked at Emily and she knew what I was going to say without even saying it.

She didn't even seem to disagree; taking out her phone she dialled a number and told the person on the other end to come to the mall. Slowly walking towards the exit everyone started getting a little giddy from all the drinks taken while bowling, Kathy was being piggy backed by Angelina and Nancy was tickling Emily.

Louise scowled at the as if saying is this any way to behave in public, as we walked into the sun bathed parking lot. I had to cover my eyes to shade them from the afternoon sun, walking back to the bench where I had sat before I sat down again.

The girls all squeezed in even though there was no space, in the distance a black sedan could be seen coming and even as it came to a stop none of us moved from the bench. A man who looked in his forties came out from the car, his salt and pepper hair was neatly combed, a very unnaturally white shirt could be seen under a black blazer.

The black trousers and shoes he wore looked to be part of the set; he looked at us sitting on the bench as if silently telling us to get in the car but he didn't voice his opinion. Emily got up from behind me and walked over to where he stood, handing him her phone.

"Michael please take a picture of us" smiled Emily

"Sure thing miss" replied Michael rather politely.

Returning to her sitting position behind me, we waited for Michael to take the picture. He looked through the camera at all of us trying to make sure all of us fit in perfectly.

His eyes gleamed with happiness "finally, everybody smile."

There was a click which meant the picture was taken, one by one we all got off the bench to see what kind of picture had been taken. Rather than standing there we were ushered into the car by Michael, once inside the car Emily passed around the phone so that everyone could have a look at the picture.

When it came to me I took my time looking at it, on the left was Angelina looking very happy, behind her was Kathy who was also smiling with a hint of mischief in her eyes and in the middle was me my eyes were glinting with mischief which reflected in my smile.

Behind me was Emily who seemed to be the happiest out of all of us, on the right was Nancy who seemed to be waving at the camera but still managing to smile and finally behind her was Louise who was grinning like she had just won the lottery.

The one common thing between all girls was that they all held up two fingers behind my head, making it seem like I had grown an extra set of ears.

"Um guys what does this exactly mean?"

They all looked at what I was point at and seemed to fall silent, it seemed that none of them wants to tell me what I meant but I was wrong to believe that. Angelina came close to me and whispered in my ear, as I understood what it meant my face went crimson red.

I opened the window to let some air in, I was secretly smiling but I didn't want the girls to notice that. They talked between themselves throughout the journey back home, I had the feeling that this was the first time that Emily was this happy but what would Mrs Dawn say to another bunch of unexpected guests.

As we made one final turn towards the house a car passed ours and went towards the houses. When we finally made it to the house the people in the car were inside talking to Mrs Dawn, the girls were still giggling about something as we went inside.

Beside Mrs Dawn in the sitting area there was another woman and a boy around my age. The woman was wearing a canary yellow dress with white stilettos, in terms of beauty she didn't look as pretty as Mrs Dawn even thought she looked younger she seemed older.

The boy looked like he was just extra baggage until he saw Emily; he perked up a bit and sat straight. He was wearing a navy blue polo along with white trousers; the whole look was complete with white beret and white shoes.

It looked like he was ready for a golf match, as we came closer Mrs Dawn smiled but at the same time seemed a little confused as she saw the number of people we had come back with had increased.

Emily stepped forward smiling "Mom this is Kathy, Angelina and Louise they're friends of Kralus we met them at the mall." "Guys this is my mom."

"Hello Mrs Dawn all three chimed at the same time."

"Hello it's nice to meet you, kids meet Mrs Jones and her son Chris."

We all introduced ourselves but after that there was nothing more to say, a slightly dragged on silence ensued. It was broken by Mrs dawn telling Chris to join us in whatever we were doing, a sigh escaped from Emily's lips which to her horror was heard by her mom.

"Is there a problem dear?"

Emily faked a smile "no nothing mom I'm just a little tired that's all."

"Well please take Chris with you and Emily be nice."

"Yes mom."

As we were going up the stairs Chris kept staring at Emily with a freakish grin on his face, I felt a little tired as well and as we walked by my room I split. As quietly as I could I tried to close the door but it was of no use, Kathy heard it close and in a matter of seconds I hear Emily knock on the door.

"Kralus don't you want to join us?" There was distinct sadness in her voice.

"No it's nothing like that I just wanted to freshen up a bit, I'll be there in a little while."

"Okay, it's the fourth room from yours."

"Okay see you in a bit."

Hearing her walk away I let out a sigh, taking off my jacket it threw it on to the bed and it was then that I noticed that my blades weren't in my bag they were out in the open. I didn't know if anyone had come into the room or not, feeling rather confused I put them back in the bag and made my way to the bathroom.

Dropping my clothes on the railing next to the towels I turned on the shower, immediately hot water began beating against the cold marble making a lot of steam.  
The hot water felt quite nice, it was making all my muscles relax it felt like some kind of invisible weight had been lifted. I felt quite energized now, after a good half an hour I turned off the shower and walked out drying my hair.

I couldn't help but think back to what Aphrodite had said about me knowing where Sarah was, I tried racking my brains while looking for something to wear but no place in particular came to mind.

Pulling out blue jeans and a white t shirt from my bad I found the camera I had taken from the guy back then, upon switching it on I was surprised that it still worked. The video was there waiting to be played, I blanked out for a few seconds then played the video, hearing her voice made me somewhat happy and tears started welling up in my eyes.

I forced them back it was then that I could hear the fain sound of water running, at first I thought I left the shower running but after double checking the shower and playing the video a few more times I realised that the sound was actually coming from the video.

I know it sounds weird but I cursed happily thinking why I hadn't noticed that before, there was a knock at the door making me put the camera on the bed. It was Emily; she stood there in grey sweats and a white t shirt looking at me like I had just taken something from her.

"Did you forget or do you just not want to join us?"

She sounded quite annoyed but I just couldn't help but smile, I was in such a good mood. I ruffled her hair saying come on lets go.

She looked at me for a few seconds then followed me out of the room; upon getting to the room I saw Nancy and Louise playing a game of Chess. Kathy, Angelina and Chris were playing on the ps3 the second I walked into the room they looked up.

Then they went back to what they were doing, they all looked like they were having so much fun and I'm sure I saw Louise swap one of the pieces when Nancy wasn't looking.

"Okay everyone called out Emily let's start the real game now."

Everyone looked at Emily with some kind of approval, moving from where they sat they formed a circle on the floor and waited. Emily went to get something while I went and sat down, she back after a while with a bottle of sprite.

She drank until the bottle was empty and then she put the cap back on, putting it in the middle of the circle.

"Burp! Oops excuse me" laughed Emily "well today's entertainment will be truth or dare, for those of you who haven't played this it's very easy to learn."

"At the start someone spins the bottle whoever the capped end is point at has to choose between truth or dare that person will then spin the bottle once their turn is over." "This will continue until we get bored or things get a little bit too sticky right let's start."

Emily span the bottle, there was silence as everyone watched the bottle spin as it came to a stop on Kathy everyone let out a sigh of relief.

"So Kathy truth or dare Emily smiled waiting for an answer."

"Um truth."

"Okay let me see...what is your best childhood memory?"

"Hmmm my favourite childhood memory let's see, there was this one time when me and my mom went to see the circus and I saw the acrobats flying through the air."

"I was very lucky to be chosen to join them when they asked for volunteers, flying through the air felt so good it was like my body weighed nothing."

Emily's eyes had gotten big like the ones you see in cartoons.

"Wow that must have a lot of fun right, wish I could fly through the sky."

"So my turns over right?"

"Yeah spin the bottle" said Emily rather cheerily.

Kathy span the bottle once again there was silence, this time it landed on Louise and Kathy let out a devilish grin.

"So what will it be, truth or dare?"

Louise grinned dare, "what do you have in store for me?"

"Hmmm let's see, I dare you to get make up put on by Angi."

"What! No please anything but that moaned Louise helplessly."

"Well you asked for it, you can't back off now."

"But..."

"Are you chicken?"

At this Louise got up and walked over to where Angelina sat, she looked at her like she was sentencing her to death.

"Go on do your worst" smirked Louise nervously.

Angelina looked at her with a twinkle in her eyes like she had been waiting for this moment for a while, getting up she went out of the room and returned after a few minutes with a black leather box.

Louise looked at the box like it was tartarus itself but Angelina only smiled, I on the other hand was confused from the look of things it seemed like she had raided all the cosmetic shops and nothing in there looked cheap.

Whilst I was wondering how she had managed to pack all of along with the rest of her gear, she began her work on Louise, it was a while before she was done and it was amazing how quickly she worked.

Very slowly she moved allowing us to take a glimpse at her finished work, I'm pretty sure everyone was shocked by what they saw; Louise looked like a new person all together. There wasn't a lot of make up on her but it was just enough to bring out her features, she looked around rather sheepishly waiting for someone to say something.

"Wow" exclaimed Emily "you look really beautiful."

"Yeah why don't you wear make up more often asked Kathy."

"Well I don't exactly like wearing makeup it's too much of a chore" whispered Louise.

"A chore!" "Sweetie you can't call looking beautiful a chore" exclaimed Angelina.

She came on a little strong but what could you expect from a daughter of Aphrodite.

"If you need tips for applying makeup you can always ask me, I'll always help you."

Sheepishly Louise whisper yelled "so is my turn over now?"

"Yeah it is" laughed Nancy "you can spin anytime."

Louise span the bottle again but this time it stopped immediately, we all looked towards the hand that had stopped the bottle and it belonged to Chris who just grinned as all eyes stopped on him.

"Guys this is getting a little boring why don't we play another game."

"What do you have in mind?" Asked Emily

Spin the bottle with a twist, as it is in the normal version when the bottle stops you have to kiss the person that it is pointing to and if you don't want to kiss the person then you have to take off a piece of clothing.

Everyone looked at each other as if silently trying to agree whether or not to play this game.

"Yeah sure we'll play" grinned Louise "as if seeing it like a challenge."

"Since you proposed the game you spin first" said Emily.

Chris spins the bottle looking at Emily, I could see his intentions through his eyes and as the bottle began to slow I saw the look on his face change. The bottle stopped on Nancy, both of them seemed rather surprised and Chris wore a look of disappointment on his face as he took off his hat.

Nancy looked rather hurt but didn't say anything, I was pretty sure that even she wouldn't want to kiss Chris.

"Sorry no offence" whispered Chris to Nancy.

Nancy didn't say anything just span the bottle and it looked like the fates weren't on her side today as the bottle landed on Chris again. They both looked at each other in horror; Nancy took off her socks and dropped them to the side.

Neither one of them said anything Chris just went on to spin the bottle with a twinkle in his eye but the twinkle disappeared in an instant as the bottle stopped. We both looked at each other uneasily; he took off his socks angrily and threw them onto the pile next to him.

Reluctantly I span the bottle and somewhere in my mind I already knew what the outcome would be, even so I hoped that it didn't land where I thought it would. I guess today just wasn't my day; I bet the gods were having a field day.

Smirking I took off my t shirt as I put it down I noticed all eyes were on me, no one even paid attention to the fact that Chris rolled the bottle and cursed silently when it came to a stop. It wasn't until someone called out Emily's name that they snapped out of their trance like state, Emily got up to see who it was and it turned out to be Mrs Johnson.

"Chris your mom's calling you."

Unwillingly he got up and left the room strutting like he was a big shot, as soon as he left the room we ball burst out laughing.

"So what's going on between you and Mr Strutalot?" Asked Angelina

"Huh!" "What do you mean, we're only friends nothing more" said Emily going red.

"Aww you should tell the poor thing, he thinks he has a chance with you."

"Hey guys are we going to continue the game or what?" Asked Nancy.

Once again everyone looked at each other; one by one they all seemed to silently agree as on what to do and as their eyes fell on me I just shook my head.

"Sorry guys I'm out."

"What?" "Come on the afternoon is still young besides you know you want to kiss one of us" said Angelina.

As tempting as that sounds I'm going to skip I have some stuff to do.

"Ooooh like what" asked Louise with wide inquisitive eyes.

"Never you mind children just carry on without me" I smiled.

She sat back pouting like a little kid, everyone went back to what they were doing when I had entered the room earlier. Putting on my shirt I walked out of the room, Mrs Dawn was still standing at the door waving off the Johnsons and it was then that a switch in my mind clicked.

I ran downstairs to ask her about the river that I heard in the video; we went to the living room and sat down. She began telling me about the place and it felt like a huge weight had been lifted off my shoulders.

"Thank you very much Mrs Dawn you have been a great help."

"Oh no Kralus I need to be thankful to you and your friends for becoming friends with Emily." "You see she hasn't had that many friends through the years."

I silently watched her not believing that Emily had a lonely past and she noticed the look on my face to which she replied.

"I know what you're thinking how a bubbly girl like Emily could be lonely but it's true, none of the people who tried to befriend her were the same age and they were looking to get contracts with my firm."

"What about school?" "She must have made friends at school."

Mrs Dawn sighed "she would have if it weren't for scores of people who faked friendship with her, due to that she closed herself from everything." "That is until she met you and your friends, I don't know what it was about you but she finally opened up to someone."

"I didn't know that she had been through so much, why didn't she say anything?" I asked concerned.

"Well I guess she just didn't want you or your friends to think that she was a vulnerable little girl" sighed Mrs Dawn "Kralus can I get you to promise me that you and your friends will be with Emily no matter what."

I smiled at this remembering a very similar situation with a very powerful hero.

"I won't always be around but I will promise you that we will remain friends."

"Thank you that's all I needed to hear, well you get back to what you were doing and start packing cause our flight is just before lunch tomorrow" she smiled.

"You don't know how big a favour you have done for me by getting us on this flight."

"It was nothing laughed Mrs Dawn if anything I should be the one in debt to you, now go on get packing."

As I ran up the stairs I saw Emily standing behind one of the pillars and from the look on her face I could tell that she heard our conversation. Before I could say anything she ran off, silently cursing I ran after her down the corridor to heavy wooden set of doors leading out to the balcony.

Upon setting foot outside a cold breeze made me shiver, my eyes searched the balcony for her and found her leaning against the marble railing.

"Hey…its cold out here lets go inside."

"No I'm fine here; if you feel cold you go inside" she said stubbornly

"Emily come on there is nothing to be embarrassed or ashamed about."

"Really?"

"Yeah…everyone has something in their past that they wish no one else would know."

As I walked over to her she looked up wiping her eyes and sniffing as the light hit her face I couldn't help but smile.

"So you guys aren't going to leave me?"

"Why would we leave you, because of what your mom said to me?" "Don't be foolish."

"Sorry for being foolish" pouted Emily.

"Hahahahahahahaha."

"Hey whats so funny?"

"Nothing you just reminded me of someone I knew a long time ago."

"Uh huh."

"Come on panda eyes lets go."

"Wait what!" "Why didn't you tell me earlier?"

"It was too funny, it does make you look cute" I smiled.

Her cheeks reddened slightly and she rubbed her cheeks furiously to cover that. At that moment Nancy walked on to the balcony, her breathing was slightly erratic.

"Whats up Nancy, where is the fire?"

"Well you might want to come and see for yourself."

Slightly confused I followed her downstairs where everyone was huddled on a sofa watching the TV screen. On TV a very horrifying scene was being shown at the moment, a building with smoke billowing out of everyone possible space.

From the windows fierce flames could be seen raging inside, the police had cornered off the area and fire-fighters were trying their best to put out the flames. The ambulances were tending to the people who had been brought out, one of the police officers was talking to the reporters and according to him there were no clear signs as to how the fire had started.

"Um guys why are we watching this?" I asked feeling rather uneasy.

"Jonathan had gone to the museum to place that armour in the new exhibit hall and he still hasn't come back" sniffed Mrs Dawn from the sofa.

"Oh…I'm sure that he's perfectly fine, I mean he must have shown up on t.v right?"

"That's the problem he hasn't come on yet and I'm really scared."

She looked really down; her usual warm smile had been replaced with a blank look.

"Mom I'm sure that he is fine cooed Emily pulling her into a hug you know what he is like, I'm sure that he is on the way now."

"I hope so dear, I hope so" smiled Mrs Dawn tearily

I stood there for a while listening to the reporter questioning the police officer.

"Super Intendant Chalmers what is the state of the artefacts?"

"Well as of now the fire-fighters have managed to put out most of the fire, however I cannot comment on the state of the artefacts as of yet."

"Does that mean that the artefacts haven't been saved?"

"Ma'am in a fire like this it's very hard to say what survived and what didn't, we have to wait for the museum curator to bring a list of all the artefacts."

It was then that a scrawny looking man walked up to the officer and whispered something in his ear.

"Both of them walked away leaving the reporter to finish her news cast."

I looked over at Kathy and knew that she was praying nothing happened to the armour. A few minutes went by and no one spoke, the news reporter switched back to other news yet everyone just sat there waiting.

Everyone's eyes were glued to the TV screen as if it would at any moment give a sign of Mr Dawn and the armours whereabouts. I knew I had to contact Chiron so I left everyone, returning to my room and quickly going to the bathroom.

Turning on the shower I aimed it just below one of the lights, immediately a rainbow formed. I fished around my pockets to find a drachma and flicked it into the rainbow.

"Oh goddess Iris accept my offering, let me see Chiron at camp half-blood."

Almost immediately a picture of a centaur wearing thin framed glasses appeared, he looked so engrossed in reading that he didn't seem to notice me until I spoke, startled he looked up with one his signature smiles followed by a confused look on his face.

"Kralus is everything all right?" "Where is Nancy and how far have you gotten?"

"Woah slow down Chiron, one thing at a time."

He closed his eyes and took a breath immediately his features calmed down.

I began telling him about everything that had happened up to that point, when I told him about the Costello sisters his eyebrow arched in worry. He knew of all the mishaps that had occurred between us, especially when I was with Sarah. I left out the bit about the armour hanging in the balance; I thought that Kathy should be the one to tell him.

Chiron's brow furrowed in worry, a small caring smile played on his lips.

"Kralus what is wrong?"

"What do you mean?"

"Come on I have known you for a long time, I know when you are hiding things."

"I'm not hiding anything, I think that the right person should be telling you this not me."

"Does this right person have a name?"

"Kathleen."

"Oh I see so you ended up meeting with them, you know you shouldn't have gone in just a group of two." "It's always been known that a group of three is safest."

"Chiron you know that I have never believed in that, I have gone on quests on my own in the past and I have come back."

"I know Kralus I do not doubt your ability; you know that after Achilles you have been my best student I just don't want you to meet the same end he did."

"Chiron I-"

Just then I heard the door creak, my eyes shot to the door so fast I thought they jumped out of their sockets. I saw a pair of blue eyes watching me, at first I thought it was Nancy but it turned out to be Kathy.

"Wow that is great timing we were just talking about you."

"I hope they were all good things" she smiled.

"So how are things with the armour?"

"Not good, it seems that the armour has been taken from the museum."

In the Iris message I could see Chiron rubbing his eyes; all of a sudden he looked so old.

"Do you have any idea where it might have gone?"

"Sorry Chiron I got nothing, but I'm pretty sure Mr Dawn could shed more light on this once he gets back."

An eerie silence filled the room, the sound of water hitting marble got louder and louder.

"So um what happens how Chiron?" "I mean there is no guarantee that we will get the armour."

"Well my dear you have to accept that things like this happen on quests, it just makes things a little bit harder but at the end it's all worth it."

"So what should we do for now?"

"There is nothing you can do but wait, once Mr Dawn comes back try to get as much information as you can out of him."

"I will try my best" nodded Kathy

"Chiron we should be getting back I'll keep you informed as best as I can."

"Kralus take care of everyone and come back with her, it's been a while since I saw her" smiled Chiron.

Smiling back I swiped my hand through the mist.

"Come on Kathy lets go."

As we made our way out of the room there was commotion downstairs, coming closer to the stairs we saw everyone standing at the door fussing over someone covered in black soot. Climbing down the stairs I realized the person covered in soot was none other than Mr Dawn but he looked nothing like before.

His eyes which had been sparkling with life were now quite spaced out as he looked at everyone's faces. Mrs Dawn's eyes were brimming with tears, Emily was just hugging her dad.  
A few minutes later they took him to the sofa and sat him down, Emily brought him a glass of water.

As he drank the water he seemed to be more revitalized and began speaking.

"All my….i lost everything."

"It doesn't matter darling you can always get all of that back again" cooed Mrs Dawn.

"No…it's all lost, everything I ever worked for gone."

He sat there sobbing for a while until Mrs Dawn took him upstairs; we were all still downstairs just sitting on the sofa. The silence was the kind you would expect at a funeral, I was the first to leave, upon getting to my room I let out a sigh.

Things had begun to fall apart already and I knew that they wouldn't get better anytime soon. Without changing I just lay on the bed staring up at the ceiling, slowly my eyes started to feel heavy eventually sending me to sleep.

A/N:Well that is the end of chapter 8, yeah I know nothing much happened in this chapter, those of you looking for cool fight scenes sorry they wont be around for a while :( You're not the only one who misses them.

Yes i know i recycled the lines but i don't really know what else to put here lol

Please Review :) 


	9. Chapter 9

A/N: The next chapter is here YAY! Those of you waiting for those fight scenes are going to love the rest of the chapters from here on as these will be the last few epic battles.  
Granted some of them end quickly but that is only to make way for the good ones :)  
Again I do not own PJO or any of the characters associated with it, however I do own the Plot to this story and the characters shown within it.

Hope you like the chapter :)

Chapter 9  
The Flight

Falling asleep wasn't so bad; the bad part was the dreams that followed. Yes two not just one, lucky me. The room felt so cold, I could faintly make out four bodies sprawled in the four corners of the room with no signs of movement.

Suddenly my eyes snapped to a figure in front of me, it was like his presence just made the room a lot colder. White strands of hair could be seen flowing from the ice covered helmet, two white orbs occupied the sockets where the eyes should have been.

His whole body was protected by icy blue armour, the only exception being the arms where black leather guards shielded the skin. He held two blades which glowed a fierce red illuminating the room with a warm glow.

The only thing that showed that showed the swords being out of place was the billowing smoke that was being released from his hands. As I watched him raised one of the swords above his head ready to strike, I don't know if it was just me but I swear I saw the sword become a fiercer red as it if were on fire.

The second he swung I could feel the ground itself becoming hot and I knew that would be last time I ever feel warmth again but at the last second I was taken elsewhere. I was in someone's house sitting in the middle of the corridor, I could still feel the heat on my skin but it was slowly dissipating.

Looking around there were small painting hung on the wall, a few pictures stood atop the cabinet and a very empty coat rack stood at the end of the corridor. The silence was broken by a pair of voices in the next room, upon getting closer I saw two girls preparing for what looked like a meal.

The one setting the table had jet black hair which went just past her shoulders, dark brown eyes, she was wearing an orange tank top and black jeans. The other one at the stove had wavy chocolate brown hair that reached the middle of her back. Warm blue eyes that radiated with love, she was wearing a sky blue t shirt and blue capris.

As I watched she slowly moved the food to the table with the help of the other girl. I saw the girl who had been cooking look up straight at me and call out to someone, soon enough there was the pitter patter of small feet.

I looked behind to see a small girl running down the corridor; she went into the kitchen and took her place at the chair facing away from the doorway. Once all the food had been shifted the other two took their places as well, all of them were helping serve food into each other's plates.

As I leaned against the doorway and tried to listen in I caught some of the conversation.

"Kayla the food is quite good; thank you for the nice meal" said the girl sitting opposite her.

"Thanks make sure you eat your greens Bekki" smiled Kayla.

"Ugh no I hate greens" retorted Bekki.

They carried on fighting until Kayla got tired and just spooned the vegetables into Bekki's mouth.

Looking very disgruntled she chewed as if it left a bad taste in her mouth. It wasn't long before the other girl got up and went to the sink; I could see both girls at the table quiet down. Once they had finished eating they also helped clean, one by one they came out from the kitchen and walked out on to the balcony a few feet away.

As I went to join them the sound of water crashing against rocks started to ring in the air. Upon getting closer to them I saw a white sand beach, crystal clear waves breaking against rough grey rocks.

The sound of the water hitting the rocks grew louder and louder, finally forcing me to slowly stir from slumber. Rubbing my eyes I looked around, my eyes landed on the bathroom from where the sound of running water was coming from.

Slowly getting up I stretched while going towards the door, as I opened the door steam billowed out. As the steam began clearing out a silhouette began forming near the shower.

Whoever was using the shower was too immersed in washing their hair to notice the fact that someone had opened the door. The silhouette began taking shape and I was shocked to find that the person was none other than Nancy.

As she turned around whilst rinsing her hair she opened her eyes, there was a few seconds of silence then she broke out an ear splitting scream. Quickly grabbing the towel to cover herself she ran out of the room, for a few seconds I just stood there confused as to why Nancy has come to my room to use the shower.

After a few minutes I shook it off and decided to go shower. Closing the door to my room I went to the shower, hanging the clothes on a rail available and turning the shower on I noticed a bottle of vanilla scented body wash.

"I guess she left it here in a hurry, I'll just return it later on."

Getting into the shower I began washing my hair, once again the warm water was causing steam to build up. The pitter patter of the water against the marble was ringing in my ears and the warmth of the water felt rather relieving.

Over the sound of the water I didn't hear the door open, after rinsing my hair I turned around to see a pair of blue eyes staring at me through the fast clearing steam. The eyes were gone the second I blinked but I knew who it was, getting out of the shower I covered myself with the towel and opened the door.

I found Nancy sitting on the bed twiddling her thumbs and looking all around the room except in my direction.

"So how come you came back?" "You didn't come back to settle the score did you?"

"Settle the-I just came back to get my body wash how was I to know that you would be in the shower."

"Okay okay" I said putting my hands up "go get your body wash."

She slowly got up and as I moved aside she ran into the bathroom to get the bottle. Coming back she watched me like a hawk, it was like she thought that i would jump on her.

"Hey uh Nancy can you please hurry I'm freezing here" I said let out a low shiver. "It was then that the towel came loose and slowly began to fall to the floor."

There was an eep, looking up I saw Nancy dash for the door.

"Oops…." I said making a grab for the towel.

"You did that on purpose didn't you?" She shouted from outside the room.

"I didn't plan for that to happen, the towel just got loose and fell I'm sure that happens to everyone sometime" I said innocently.

"Yeah sure" she said in a sarcastic tone "I'm going to eat breakfast come down when you have some clothes on."

"Be sure to save me some food" I said putting on navy blue jeans. Looking through the bag I pulled out a grey tee putting it on I began to stuff things into the bag.

As I came across the swords I remembered how they were outside the bad last night and wondered how they had gotten there. Just then I heard the door creak, my head span around so quickly I thought my eyes had jumped out of their sockets.

At the door stood a very cheery Emily wearing a bubble gum pink tee and denim shorts.

"Hey Kralus aren't you coming down for breakfast?"

"Yeah I'll be there in a minute, just going to pack the rest of my things."

"Okay, hey what's that in your hands?"

I thought that she would start screaming but no such thing happened I didn't know what she was able to see but thankfully it wasn't swords.

"Hey uh Emily I think Nancy was calling you earlier."

"Really, I didn't hear her let me go see what she wants" she smiled walking out of the room.

Letting out a sigh I carried on packing, once done I made my way downstairs to find a small collection of camping bags at the foot of the stairs. There was quite a bit of commotion coming from the kitchen, upon getting there I saw the girls happily eating breakfast and chatting away.

Mrs Dawn looked up as I sat down next to Kathy.

"What would you like dear?"

"I'll just have what everyone else is having thanks."

She passed me a white box which read Corn Flakes in big red letters and a jug of milk.

"If you want toast there is some here and there is more on the way."

"Thank you."

Sitting there eating with everyone felt quite nice, one by one everyone left the table until it was only me and Kathy left.

"So I guess you guys are going to head back to camp today."

"Kralus what are you talking about?" "We are coming with you, last night I asked Chiron for permission and he was fine with it."

"Sigh Chiron just likes to add to my worries."

"Hey what do you mean by that?"

"Nothing, I just hope that you girls can fight because where we are going not all of us will manage to come back alive."

"Huh! Wait what do you mean by that?" "Is it the prophecy, what does it say?"

"Well it said you will have to choose between an old face and a new friend and because of that choice you shall be face to face with death."

There was silence in the room; noise from the main hall was the only thing that could be heard.

"So that means…Does Nancy Know about this?"

"No she doesn't and she doesn't need to know either."

"What do you mean she doesn't need to know Kralus" hissed Kathy "she is going on this quest with you she needs to know everything."

"Kathy I'm not sure how she will take this, knowing that one or more of us might not make it back might just push her to try and protect everyone when she can't and in the end it might end up hurting her."

"She kept looking at me like I was making up a long list of excuses."

"Are you going to tell her or should I?"

She was right I couldn't exactly hide this from her, not when she is risking her life coming on this quest with me.

"Sigh fine I'll tell her on the plane."

Finishing my breakfast I took my plates and put them into the marble sink at the other end of the kitchen.

"Come on hurry up otherwise you will be left behind" I smiled

"Yeah you go on ahead I'll be there in a bit."

Walking out of the kitchen I saw most of the bags near the bottom of the stairs were gone, looking towards the doorway I saw Michael walking out with some of the bags. Picking up the rest of the bags I followed him to the cars waiting outside, there were two black sedans parked in the drive way, one of which had the boot opened.

Walking over to the car I could hear the girls chatting away inside, putting the bags into the open boot, including the ones I had in total there were about four bags in there. I was guessing that Mrs Dawn's bags would be in the other car; still having one bag to put away I closed the boot and walked over to the other car.

Opening the boot I noticed that there were no bags there, I thought that Michael would have gone back to bring the bags so I just deposited the one I had and went back to the other car. Opening the front passenger door I saw Emily, Nancy and Louise sitting in the back seat still chatting away.

As they saw me sit down the chatting ceased for about half a minute and then burst out again in furious whispers. Sitting there with nothing to do I begin to think about ways in which I could tell Nancy about the prophecy and how she would react to the news that one or more of us might not be coming back.

After going through a number of ideas I decided it would be best if I told her everything as it was. Looking back our eyes met for a second and I saw a slight blush appear on her cheeks, she quickly looked away, while I remembered the scene from this morning.

It wasn't long before I heard footsteps outside, the driver door opened and Michael stepped into the car.

"Morning Kralus how are you today?"

"Yeah not too bad, just had a rough night that's all, how about yourself?"

"Slept like a baby" he said turning on the car.

As we exited the premises I was sure I saw a blue light in the cloudy sky but that could have easily been the blue sky through the parting of clouds.

"So where are we headed then?"

"We are going to the Long Island Mac Arthur airport where a private jet will be awaiting you."

"A private jet!" Nancy said from the back seat.

"Yes the Dawn family has its own set of private jets" said Emily beaming.

"Wow this is getting more and more impressive, at this rate we will be in Canada within the next couple of hours" said Louise wide eyed

I still was not able to understand what a private jet was but I hid the fact that I didn't know any of this. I wondered about all the things that I still didn't know and how much more I would have to learn before I could understand this new world.

Looking out of the window I wondered if it was the same for Sarah. Opening the window slightly I let the afternoon breeze gently flow in, soon enough as the car increased its speed the gentle breeze became an unrelenting gust.

Sitting in the car and watching the buildings go by in a blur felt quite thrilling; soon we came on to the highway where a lot of other cars joined our route.

"When will you be returning, it seems that you have built quite a friendship with Miss Emily here" said Michael.

At this I saw Emily blush in the rear view mirror.

"Well if all goes well then we should be back within a month, fingers crossed we finish the work that we are headed there for."

"I'm sure it will go well; you just have to be persistent in trying to get what you want" smiled Michael.

I smiled back at him knowing that this would be something Chiron would say to me; the rest of the journey was reasonably quiet apart from the occasional outburst of whispers from the girls at the back.

An hour later we reached the airport, to my left there was large open airfield with a few planes waiting at docking stations. To my left I could see a large area specifically made for parking, on each level of the building were numerous cars, from what I could see there was quite a variety of models and colours.

However we did not go into the parking lot, we drove further into the airport and stopped when we came across a large fenced gate. A guard came out from the booth that was overshadowed by a large tree; he had a very sleepy look on his face as if he had just woken up, walked up to drivers side he tapped the window.

Michael rolled down the window and smiled at him.

"Sir I'm sorry but you will have to turn back" said the guard.

"There is no need to turn back; we have a private flight chartered for Ottawa this afternoon" said Michael in a calm manner.

"Private flight eh, could I ask whose name it is chartered on?"

"Certainly, the flight is chartered by Mrs Elizabeth" Dawn smiled Michael.

At this the guard's speech faltered, he looked rather apologetic and went back to the security booth. A few seconds later the gates opened allowing the cars to go on inside towards an aircraft hangar, two very small parking spots had been made next to the big half open gate.

Exiting the cars I began offloading the bags from the trunk, looking around I could see many of the planes waiting at their docking stations being attended by airport personnel. From behind me I could hear Mrs Dawn talking to Michael, turning around I saw Mrs Dawn remove a set of tickets from her purse.

"You kids come with me we need to go and take care of the boarding formalities."

We followed Mrs Dawn to the east concourse of the airport; upon reaching the help desk there a man in his late thirties greeted us.

"Hello Mrs Dawn how are you today?" "I did not realise that you were flying out today."

"I will not be flying anywhere today James, these kids are the ones that are flying out." "Here are their tickets."

"Thank you."

He scanned the tickets on the machine and tore off the end of them; passing back the tickets back to Mrs Dawn he bid us a good flight.

On the way back I saw a medium sized plane coming out of the hanger where our cars had been parked earlier. It was almost all white apart from the two stripes going down the side of it, one was navy blue the other a maroon red.

The tail itself was navy blue with the number forty five written in large white font, the overall shape of the plane made it very aerodynamic.

"Out of the four jets that we own that is my mom's favourite jets" said Emily "from behind me it's the-"

"Learjet 45 series, it's able to carry six to eight people, stands at a length of fifty seven point seven feet and a height of fourteen feet." "Its top speed is eight hundred and fifty nine kilometres per hour, a wing span of forty seven point eight feet and it is able to cater flights within a range of four thousand kilometres."

"Uh Kralus how do you know so much about it?"

"I am a plane enthusiast" I laughed nervously.

"Emily, Kralus get a move on the bags have already been loaded" came Mrs Dawn's voice from the door way.

"So Mrs Dawn why aren't you coming with us, didn't you have an important meeting to attend?"

"I had to postpone it, seeing as how Jonathan is still quite dazed from yesterday's incident I don't want to leave him on his own for a while." "Even though to me those thing were silly, to him they were his life, his pride and joy" she smiled.

"I hope that he recovers soon" I smiled

We made our way out of the concourse towards the plane, a small flight of stairs stretched from the open door and I could see the bags already loaded into the baggage compartment. Climbing up the stairs I saw the girls had already taken their seats at the back, the interior itself was quite spacious even with the first class like chairs.

Going towards the seat next to the window I sat down, enjoying the comfort that the chair provided I relaxed. Sitting there on such a luxurious flight, I still wasn't able to fathom how I knew all those details about the plane

Looking out of the picture frame sized window I could see quite a few cars moving around clearing the way for the plane to take off. Soon enough the runway was clear a bell like sound rang from the speakers.

"Good afternoon to all the passengers of flight 259 to Ottawa, we are now ready for take-off so please put on your seat belts until the seat belt sign is no longer lit." "My name is Cindy Lawford I will be the cabin crew serving you this flight." "Your pilots for this flight are Andrew Rutherford and Lauren Cooper."

After this she went through the emergency exit procedures and then took her seat. The intercom buzzed with life again, I imagined it was Andrew who was speaking because of the deep mature voice.

"Crew and passengers please return to your seats we are ready for take-off."

As soon as the intercom buzzed off a deep rumble could be heard from the engines, soon the deep rumble turned to a soft buzzing sound. Looking outside the small window I could see us moving at a steady pace towards the main runway.

The second we lined up a burst of speed pushed me back in to the seat, very slowly I could feel the small place starting to take off. The small plane began ascending at a steady pace; outside I could see the ground going out of view at a rapid pace.

The airport looked like a big jumble of building blocks before we went through the clouds. Very slowly the plane levelled out and the seat belt sign sent off, as if on cue the intercom buzzed again.

"Ladies and gentlemen this is your co-pilot Lauren speaking I hope you are enjoying the view outside of your windows on a fine day as this." "Shortly Cindy will be coming around with the afternoon snacks; estimated journey time is two hours."

"We are currently cruising at hundred and fifty kph at an altitude if twenty five thousand feet, if you require any assistance of wish to purchase anything from the inflight catalogue please call the cabin crew using the overhead switchboard."

Another buzz signalled the end of the transmission, looking out of the window I could see a blanket of could as fair as the eye could see. In the distance I could see a tinge of orange clouds in the shadow of an afternoon sun.

Someone tapped my shoulder upon turning I saw a lady with a pearly white smile, sleek brown hair and piercing sea green eyes. She wore a blue uniform which had an overpowering smell of roses.

"Sir what would you like to have to drink?"

"I will have some orange juice thank you."

"She took out a plastic cup from a compartment on the side of the trolley and poured some juice."

She passed me the juice along with a couple of white packets, as she moved along I looked at the packets. In bright red letters it had salted peanuts written on it, opening the packet I slowly began to eat while looking out of the window.

Hearing the girls giggle I turned around to see what was happening, seeing me turn around they began conversing in whispers. Nancy was the only one that wasn't getting involved in the talks so I decided that this would be the best time to go over and talk to her.

Walking up to where she sat I began tapping the floor; she looked up after a while with a quizzical look on her face.

"What's up Kralus?"

"Um Nancy I don't know how to say this so I'll just set it all on the table" I said rubbing my neck "according to the prophecy that was made some of us might not exactly be coming back from this quest."

As I said the last few words the intense whispers from the girls stopped, there was just silence; I could clearly hear the wind whistling by.

"Wha-What do you mean not all of us will be coming back?"

"Yeah what do you mean by that" asked Kathy from behind me.

"Well let's just say that the prophecy" said that "I will have to choose between an old love and new friends I said grimly."

"So what will you do Kralus" asked Nancy concerned "I mean if you have to choose then who is it going to be?"

"I…I don't know…I would like to save everyone, in this short space of time you guys have become my friends and it's been a while since I said that to anyone." "I wouldn't want to lose any of you if possible."

"So what's the plan?" Asked Louise

"Sigh well I'm hoping to find this river that I was hearing in the tape as soon as possible, I have a hunch that Sarah is being kept somewhere near there." "Now I know that we won't be able to get out of there without a fight but I hope to at least get out of there with everyone in one piece regardless of what the prophecy says."

"Well before going anywhere, you will have to get off this plane first" said a voice from behind us.

"Turning around we saw Cindy standing there smiling at us, slowly she began walking towards us."

As she came close to me she took out what appeared to be a nail file, very slowly I saw the skin on her hands shedding off. She began to grow taller until her head nearly touched the ceiling; her skin became pearly white, her brown hair burst into fierce red flames, the piercing green eyes began to bubble into a fiery red orbs.

Her legs completely transformed ripping the blue trousers in places; one leg was bronze while the other was a donkey's leg. We all looked on as the Empousa began to file her nails carefully.

"I did not expect to see any monsters on a plane" said Angelina "don't they like to stay on the ground?"

"Well little lady you thought wrong, we can go anywhere we please, kill anyone we please and seeing as the great Kralus has come back it is only appropriate that my kinsmen give him a proper welcome" she hissed.

"So you're here for tea and biscuits" smiled Kathy

"Biscuits yes, tea no." "I think that blood will be a better substitute."

At this she took a swipe at my throat, I just managed to move back bumping into Nancy and it was then that I noticed she had us trapped like lambs.

"There is nowhere to go honey just come forward and accept your fate" she hissed.

"I'm sorry but I'm not the kind to accept my fate, I'm the kind that changes it to suit me" I grinned.

Using the chairs as support I drop kicked her in the stomach; she fell back and landed near my seat.

"Ugh doesn't matter how hard you fight there is nowhere to run in here, just be a dear and let's end this quickly."

"As you wish."

Running towards her I went to punch her in the stomach but she moved out of the way, hitting the chair did not hurt even though I went full tilt. As I turned around I felt a set of claws dig into my shoulder, I felt my self being lifted off the ground and thrown to the back.

Crumpling against the toilet door I looked up to see her licking her blood stained fingers, looking at my shoulder I could see three distinct pencil sized holes. I tried to move my shoulder but I couldn't move it so much, it also meant that I couldn't use my left arm properly.

I looked back just in time to see Nancy jump onto Cindy's back, both of them went barrelling around the small plane. Cindy was trying to get Nancy off her back but she held her by the neck in a vice like grip, Kathy, Louise and Angelina were busy looking for some sort of weapon to use.

Getting up I activated cestus, I knew that using a weapon like this in an enclosed space was crazy but I had no other choice. The powerful blue glow from the forming of the gauntlets got Cindy's attention, Kathy and Angelina looked rather worried about the end result.

"Let's finish this" I said getting into a fighting stance.

At this she grabbed Nancy by the hair and tossed her away like a rag doll, she went and hit the window which thankfully didn't break. She tried to rugby tackle me but was met with cestus halfway, it connected with her jaw and send her flying towards the pilots cabin.

She hit the door with such force that a dent formed, as she hit the floor she burst into golden powder.

"So everyone alive" I asked feeling a little tired.

"All accounted for" said Kathy with a sigh of relief

From the front row a very dazed Nancy was trying to get up, from the look of her face you would think she went five rounds with Manny Pacquiao. There were cuts and bruises all over her face; I could find an inch where the Empousa had not hit her, as she turned around I saw a trickle of red liquid go down her neck.

"I guess we didn't come out that lucky" said Nancy touching the spot where the blood was flowing from.

Kathy instantly took out a piece of golden brown jelly and handed it over to her, Nancy ate it silently then went to look out of the window.

"I hope there aren't any more surprises like that on the flight" said Louise.

"Yeah let's just hope so" I said slumping back into my chair.

At that moment the cockpit door opened and the co-pilot popped her head out looking very concerned. Surprisingly she was wearing a pair of sunglasses, a navy blue cap had hidden her hair and the uniform she wore was the same colour as Cindy's with the exception of the shoulders where a small golden plane sat stitched on both sides.

"Is everything all right?" "I heard a very loud crash here is anyone hurt?" She asked with a concerned look.

"Well everyone is fine apart from Cindy; let's just say that she won't be landing in one piece" said Angelina whilst fixing her make up in a small mirror.

"Poor Cindy I guess she couldn't finish the job after all" said Lauren rather haughtily "I told her over and over again that she would be no match for you but she wouldn't listen and look where it has brought her."

At this we all looked shocked, we were able to comprehend there being one monster on the flight but two! Now that was way out of proportion. Slowly she took of her glasses and we all knew what to do, before anyone could say a word we all turned to look out of the windows.

"What's wrong?" "Why don't you look this way?"

"We are just enjoying the sights" said Nancy hastily

"Well you have all the afternoon to enjoy the sites why not sit with me for some time?"

"Well let's just say that our eyes are getting a little sleepy" said Kathy.

At that moment a small whimper escaped Angelina's lips, without turning we hope that she would answer.

"Guys I think we have gotten out Prada and ended up in Wallmart" said Angelina shakily

"What! That doesn't make no sense Angie" whisper yelled Nancy.

"Let's just say that even if we make it out of here, we won't be going far without a bag of bones."

Seeing as Angie was having trouble describing what she was seeing I decided to crane my neck out to see what had scared her so badly. I didn't have to look very far as I saw a glint of shocking blue from underneath the plane, a girl was sitting down on what seemed like air until I rubbed my eyes a few times.

It was then that the form came into view, weapons or no weapons I didn't think we were going to get out of this one unharmed.

A/N: Well that was the end of chapter 9..yes i know i left on a cliff hanger but I'm sure you will all enjoy what is to come next...those of you who feel my Prada n wallmart joke was a bad...sorry guys i really couldn't come up with any comedic lines to put there and since it was a daughter of Aphrodite speaking I'm sure it made some sense :)

Please Review :)


	10. Chapter 10

A/N: Hey guys got a new chapter for you :) Hope you guys remember where the story paused in the last chapter because this one gets a little crazy.  
Again I do not own PJO or any of the characters associated with it, however I do own the Plot to this story and the characters shown within it.

Hope you like the chapter :)

Chapter 10 – The Daughter of Boreas and the Dragon

I couldn't believe what I was looking at; if it wasn't for our current situation I would be very excited to see something like this.

"Do you see it now Kralus?" Asked Angie

"Yeah I see it but I can't believe it."

A few feet below our plane was an actual dragon or at least what was left of it, there was not a single sign of muscle or scales.  
All I could see were ghostly white bones, where the heart was meant to be there was a ball of blue flames.

For eyes it had blue flames blazing bright, on its back it carried a little girl who looked no older than five.  
I couldn't see her face since she was wearing a hood; all I knew was that our current situation had just gone from bad to worse in less than five minutes.

I felt a hand on my shoulder and instinctively went to turn around when I felt myself getting pushed against the window.

"Argh get off me child I'll get to you later let me just have a look at him first" hissed Lauren

"Oh you're not going to have a look at anyone lady" screamed Nancy

A second later Lauren let out an ear splitting scream, I felt the weight on my back get lifted as I turned around I saw Nancy grinning at me.

She was holding on to Lauren very tightly and I think she might have poked her eyes; blindly she walked towards the back.

It was then that I saw the washroom door wide open and knew what the girls were trying to do.  
I had never thought that the girls could work this well together; a few minutes ago they were scared to the point of quivering.

As Lauren bumped into the door Nancy jumped off her, the second she was off Louise and Kathy pushed her into the washroom while Angie shut the door.

"Is there anything we can use to keep the door shut?" Shouted Angie "I won't be able to keep it shut for long."

"Just try to hold on for a while Angie we will try to look for something" said Louise sounding a little tense

After searching around for a while we found nothing that could be of use, the washroom door was beginning to creak a lot from all of the banging.

"Guys you might want to hurry" said Angie nervously.

Just then the view outside began to get darker; I could faintly hear thunder in the distance. The plane began to shake, slightly at first but then it began to get a little violent.

The tannoy buzzed as we were being thrown around like ragdolls.

"Lauren could you come back to the pilots seat, thank you."

As the tannoy buzzed off the washroom door slammed open.

"You will pay for that daughter of Aphrodite she hissed all of her children are admired for their beauty but you will not be."

She brandished her neatly filed nails and went to attack Angie.

I tried running towards her but it was useless, the shaking of the plane meant that I couldn't get a steady footing.  
Using the chairs to barrel myself forward I kicked Lauren just as she was a few inches away from Angie's face.  
Rather than cutting through flesh her nails cut through fabric.

"Arghhh How dare you that was a Dolce and Gabbana t shirt" shouted Angie

As she landed her head hit the wall, as if that wasn't enough one of the overhead compartments opened up causing its contents to fall on top of her.

"Arghhh! All right kiddies playtimes over" she snarled.

Her anger seemed to make her pulsate with power. Her skin began to boil, cracking and getting darker by the second until it was emerald green.

The legs had been turned into a five foot tail, the only sign that she had been wearing trousers was the shredded blue cloth held in place by a black belt.

The blazer and shirt looked like they were at their limits, bulging from the seams.

"Finally I can get out of this wretched form" she hissed "I hate being in that form, it doesn't strike fear into moral hearts."

At that point Louise rolled near her tail in a dazed state.

"Looks like I'll be starting with this one" she said licking her lips.

She picked up Louise by the neck, bringing her up to eye level and stroked her skin using one of her nails.

"You have very soft skin dear, almost baby like she purred I am going to enjoy this."

At first I thought she was being turned into stone from the way that Louise was shrieking but then I saw drop of blood falling to the ground and knew that something weird was going on.

"Hey Lauren aren't you like supposed to turn us into stone?"

At this Lauren's head popped over Louise's shoulder, her eyes showed murderous intent beyond belief.

"WHY DOES EVERYONE THINK THAT ALL GORGON SISTERS CAN TURN PEOPLE TO STONE…IT WAS ONLY MEDUSA" she spat angrily "SHE HAD IT ALL THE UGLY LOOKS, THE POWERS AND LETS NOT FORGET THE MEN."

"Uh so who are you?" Asked Angie quizzically.

"The name is Stheno" she snarled diving for Angie

She tackled Angie smashing her head again the window, if that wasn't enough she was going to turn her into a kebab.  
Brandishing her nails she went to claw Angie but at the last second she was pulled out of the way by Nancy and the nail went through the window.

For a few seconds none of us moved, we were all praying that the window didn't break and miraculously there wasn't even a crack on there.

There were however five pencil sized holes all in a perfect circle, slowly she took out her nails from the window and we all expect it to just fall apart.

Thankfully that didn't happen but the fact that the window was damaged meant that we could no longer do anything reckless.

I was about to dive at her but was met with her tail, it coiled around my body restricting my movement.  
From the corner of my eye I saw Kathy jump off the chair trying to kick Stheno but she caught her foot and flung her aside.

She hit one of the overhead compartments and fell down; as she was getting up I saw a trickle of blood escape her lips.

The tail kept getting tighter and tighter, soon I felt as if I could hear my own bones grinding against each other. The girls were trying their best to make her let go of me but nothing was working, it wasn't until Nancy threw salted peanuts at her that she loosened her grip.

Taking advantage of this I quickly snaked my way out of there before she had a chance to start crushing me again.  
As I turned around I saw her writhing around frantically, she was fluently cursing in ancient Greek.

Looking closely I saw she had her eyes shut tight, I was guessing some of the salt from the peanuts went into them.  
This was a good chance to regroup and come up with a plan; I silently signalled to Nancy and moved across the aisle.

One by one all the girls gathered near the pilot cabin door, which at this point was the furthest spot from Stheno.  
Once we had all gathered there we began conversing in whispers so that Stheno wouldn't over hear our conversation, her fluent Greek curses were still being rolled out.

"Kralus how can we kill her?" Asked Nancy.

"We…we can't killer she's immortal" I sighed.

"So….what…what can we do?" Asked Kathy wide eyed.

"Are we going to die on here?" Asked Angie "we are aren't we?"

"No, no one is going to die today." "I didn't want to do this before but I have no choice left."

"Wait!" "What are you planning on doing?" Asked Nancy a little concerned.

"Just make sure you guys are holding on to something." "Also can you guys distract her for five minutes?"

"That's a bit too much" said Louise "we can barely hold our own against her."

"Just try to hold on for as long as you can and leave the rest to me."

"We will try to do our best but there are no promises" said Kathy

"Okay on the count of three."

I could feel the tension growing, a bead of sweat trickled down my forehead.

"One…two…three!"

On the count of three the bead of sweat hit the floor. The girls went to tackle a recovered Stheno, who at the time was charging at us.

Meanwhile I ran towards the main door, seeing the red lever and the message imprinted on the door itself I let out a sigh of relief.

"This is the biggest emergency" I said pulling the lever.

From behind me there was a very loud crash, without letting go of the lever I turned a little to see what happened.  
I saw an upturned chair and a very dishevelled Stheno pinned down by the girls.

Renewing my efforts to pull the very stiff lever, I could hear the creaking protests from the mechanisms inside. Heaving one last time there was a loud click which signalled the opening of the door.

"Kralus watch out!"

The second I heard Nancy shout, I knew my time was up but the deed was done. As I turned Stheno was coming at me full tilt and I knew what she was aiming for.

I closed my eyes, ready for what was about to happen. There was a very loud thump, I was expecting to be thrown off my feet and stuck to the wall but it didn't happen.

I felt something bump against my knees and that was it. Slowly opening one eye I saw a metal tray with Stheno's face perfectly outlined, from the look of things she was going to take a bite out of my neck.

I saw a pair of ghostly white hands holding the tray very tightly, following them down I saw Angie leaning against my legs. Her breathing was laboured and she was shaking like a leaf.

A sound like the ripping of wax strips was coming from the tray, in a few seconds Stheno emerged from behind the tray with a goofy look on her face.

Without any further ado I flipped the level all the way and let go, immediately the door flew away all the air in the cabin was being sucked out.

Stheno was about to follow the door but at the last second she held on to the door frame.

"Curse you Kralus" she shouted over the howling wind.

She was frantically trying to climb back in but never succeeding. It was then that Angie got up, taking one step towards Stheno and looking down on her.

"Get lost bitch!" She shouted kicking her in the face.

The hit loosened Stheno's grip but did not make her let go altogether. Angie kicked her again to make her let go but she was very persistent.

After taking a third kick to the face there was a groan from the door frame and the place where she was holding just broke off.

It was as if everything had suddenly slowed down, Stheno was slowing rolling into a ball as she fell down. Angie was turning towards me breathing a sigh of relief, looking over her shoulder I could see Stheno now completely rolled into a ball.

As she was about to dive through dense white clouds something broke through, I could see two blue orbs again.  
Even before it completely broke through I knew the dragon and its rider were here, Stheno hit the dragon head on causing its head to snap to the right.

Just then there was a very loud bang, it nearly made me fall off the plane. Half of my body was already outside; if it wasn't for Angie grabbing my hand I would have become street art along with Stheno.

From the corner of my eye I could see black smoke billowing from where the wing was meant to be. I felt my hands being tugged; very slowly I was pulled back into the plane.

Having being pulled in I noticed that everyone had created a human chain to pull me in.

"Guys we are missing a wing" I said panting.

All the colour drained out of the girls faces; Kathy was the first to go have a look out of the last window. She was there for at least a minute, when she turned there was utter disbelief and horror in her eyes.

"Kathy tell me the wing is still there" sobbed Angie tears freely rolling down her cheeks.

"I…Sorry Angie, there is nothing there."

Angie completely broke down at this point; Nancy and Louise were trying to calm her down while Kathy leaned against the upturned chair still in shock.

I went to look outside of the door and found the dragon getting closer to the plane or rather it was the plane that was losing altitude.

The girl on the back of the dragon had her hood off now and I was able to see her face, her skin was very pale almost ghostly white, she had stunning brown almond shaped eyes.

She looked very skinny but not unhealthy, her clothes made it seem like she had been in quite a few rough situations however she had the presence of a queen.

I could see her raising her hands and chanting a few words but because of the howling wind I couldn't hear anything.  
Bit by bit the rain water was starting to coming into the cabin and it was starting to get unusually cold.

Looking at the water that had already accumulated I saw that it was starting to freeze over.

"This can't lead to anything good" I whispered to myself.

No sooner than I had said this there were a few loud bangs from the roof, it started off slowly but then accelerated. Just then a ball of ice the size of my fist rolled into the cabin; at this even Angie stopped crying.

All of our attention was on this ball of ice.

"That is the biggest hail stone I have ever seen" said Louise picking it up.

The roof of the plane looked like it was getting beaten down by a tenderiser, more and more of these hail stones were rolling into the cabin.

The girls were now in full panic mode, the dragon was still flying outside within arm's reach but I couldn't do anything.  
If I jumped out of the plane the girls might die, if I stay on here we all might die.

As I stood there thinking Nancy walked up to me with a mean look on her face, one which I had never seen before.

"You are the son of the sky god, do something about this…if…if you don't do something we will all end up dead" she said sobbing a little.

I slowly looked around the little cabin at all the tired faces and knew that this would be the final round.

"Right let's do this" I said firmly "we need to block the door way so that the plane can stabilise a little."

"What about the wing?" Asked Kathy "if things go the way they are the fire will eventually reach the fuel tank and we will all be blown sky high."

"If you can somehow create a vacuum around the place where the fire is, there is a chance that it will die out" said Louise

"A vacuum?"

"It's a void with no air, fire needs oxygen to burn and if you cut out the oxygen it will surely die out" said Angie with renewed vigour

"Oh that's pretty clever for an Aphrodite girl" said Kathy jokingly.

"Haha Kathy I do pay attention in class you know" she said sticking out her tongue.

"Right let's get started guys, first we have to bring that chair up here and since it's already been ripped off we just need to carry it over here" I said in a commanding tone "Nancy, Louise help me with the chair, Kathy and Angie look for things like blankets and pillows we will need to cover up the small spaces left after the chair is in place."

We all got to work; getting the chair across was not easy, the space above the walk way barely allowed us to lift the chair above our heads.

In order to get the chair to the front we had to lower all other chairs to sleeping position, which made the whole job easier.

Kath and Angie were rummaging through the pile of items that had earlier crashed on top of Stheno. Once we had the chair in place thankfully there wasn't that much space left to fill out, thank god first class chairs were so big.

A few seconds later Kathy followed by Angie came over with their arms full of pillows and blankets.

"Will this do or do you need more?" Asked Angie

"Yeah this will do, there isn't that much space left to cover anyway." "Hopefully they won't get sucked out very easily."

We stuffed every inch of the chair that was allowing the air to be sucked out, once all the gaps had been filled we stood there in silence waiting to see if anything would get sucked out.

It was slow but I could see the pillows being sucked out from the sides where two crescent moons had been shaped thanks to Stheno.

"What can we do about that?" I asked rather nervously

"I have an idea" said Angie her face lighting up a little "Why don't we pin down everything that is able to get sucked out." "I have enough safety pins to hold these things in place for a while, they won't stay there forever but it will give us enough time to think of something."

"Sure let's give it a go" said Nancy with a thumbs up.

Angie ran back to her seat opened the overhead compartment and took out her hand luggage, from the bag she took out a small black pouch.

Bringing it over she poured out what looked to be like fifty safety pins, I stood there thinking about the conditions in which you would require these many and none came to mind.

It wasn't only me Nancy, Louise and Kathy were also looking at Angie as if she had gone mad. Using ten pins each she pinned down the items that looked like they were going to fly out anytime soon.

As she moved away I could clearly see no more movement from any of the pillows or blankets.

"Right now it's your turn Kralus, just use your powers and get us down safely" said Angie with a smile.

"Okay I will give it a try, everyone just go and get seat, make sure you use your seat belts." "As I'm not really sure how well my powers will work."

On the roof a fresh barrage of hail stones began their assault; the already dented roof looked like it was going to fall apart very soon.

"I hope this works" I whispered to myself "I have never flown one of these things before."

Closing my eyes I clicked my fingers, all of a suddenly I felt in control of the plane. Concentrating on the fire I began to see a bubble around it, it was a slow process but gradually the fire was dying out.

The vacuum theory that Louise talked about was actually working, but just keeping that vacuum bubble there was talking nearly all my strength.

Very slowly the plane began tilting until it was perfectly vertical, without breaking my concentration on the bubble I willed the wind to push us further up.

Using the speed from the one engine that was still working, the plane began to climb higher and higher until we flew out of the dark clouds.

I didn't know what time it was but afternoon sun was shining through the windows slowly melting the hailstones.

"Kralus…KRALUS!"

Just for a second I opened one of my eyes andI saw Nancy sitting in my chair shivering very violently.

"Do…do you think y-you could just k-keep the plane low e-enough that we don't f-freeze to d-death" she said very slowly.

"Um truth be said Nancy I…I don't know how to land this thing" I said scratching my head.

"You WHAT!" She shouted

"I have never flown one of these before, if you guys told me this morning that I would have been flying a plane in the afternoon I would have practiced my landing."

"Hahahaha and if I had known that we would be attacked by monsters galore I would have packed a lot more fire power" she said smugly.

"G-Guys l-lets j-just focus on g-getting down safely f-for now" said Louise shivering as well.

Just then the sunlight was blocked out by a huge figure flying past us, even without looking we all knew the dragon had found us.

There was no time to lose, I was struggling to keep the vacuum bubble in place and the girls were beginning to freeze over.

Trying to out manoeuvre the dragon was impossible with one wing we needed to bring it down to our territory rather than fight it in its own.

A loud roar brought me out of my thoughts and back into chaos, there was a loud grinding noise then silence. Faintly I could hear an alarm ringing, looking towards the door I was hoping that nothing worse had happened.

"S-someone go and check the pilots' cabin, I can hear an alarm ringing" I said shivering slightly.

Nancy got up very slowly and made her way to the door, as she pulled the handle down a torrent of hailstones rushed out of the little cabin.

I was pushed back quite a bit and lost my concentration causing the plane to lose altitude, as Nancy came out of the cabin her face was ghostly white.

"T-the p-pilot is…unconscious and we're losing f-fuel very quickly" she said in a shocked state.

"If we are losing fuel that means that they cut the fuel tanks, we will have to shut off the engines to make sure that a fire doesn't erupt" I said walking back to the front.

"Kralus if you c-cut the e-engines it is g-going to be the e-end of us" said Louise sternly.

"Well if I don't cut the engines we will die up here, I'm sure they attacked these fuel tanks so that they could set it alight" I said gritting my teeth

In front of me Nancy collapsed to the floor shivering very violently.

"Hey Nancy can you hear me?" "Don't go to sleep, whatever you do don't follow that white light dammit" I said taking off my jacket and laying it over her.

The plane was beginning to fall at a fast pace, once again I tried to concentrate on getting the winds to push the plane but it wasn't working I had used up too much energy.

Our descent soon became vertical;we were all thrown in to the pilots' cabin along with the few remaining items that weren't pinned to the chair.

"Kralus…you better do something….and fast" said Kathy craning her neck from the back of the co-pilots seat.

"If I could do something I would have done it by now, I have run out of steam." "We need to shut down the engines otherwise we will become pan cakes on the Canadian mountains" I said popping my head from behind Angie's shoulder.

"Fine shut them off but you better have a plan Kralus!" Kathy shouted.

"Well at the moment I don't have anything but when I do I'll let you know" I shouted back.

Pushing Angie off me I tried to get up, slowly I managed to get into the co-pilot seat and as I looked down I saw the ground fast approaching.

Grabbing hold of the steering I pulled back in hope that the plane would slow down or even take flight for that matter.  
Looking around the dash board I found the engine switch and turned it off, even though we were still falling pretty fast I was sure that we lost a bit of speed.

Once again I tried to pull back on the steering and it began to violently rumble in my grasp, it felt like I was holding on to a jack hammer.

It was slow but I could feel the plane starting to level out, about two thousand feet off the ground the plane was horizontal. The only problem was that we were in the middle of nowhere, no matter what direction I looked in all I could see was snow and trees.

Even if I took the tyres out they would make no difference, in one way or another the plane was going to get shredded to pieces.

The only remaining question was, will we be able to make it out alive.

A flurry of snow came in through the broken window as we neared the ground, the girls were still huddled together and from the looks of it Louise was knocked out.

With an almighty bang we landed in the snow, but it didn't end there, the plane continued to skid through the snow and into the trees.

The sound of falling trees and grinding metal was ringing in my ears, a large amount of snow and pine needles had come through the windows.

In the main cabin all of the windows had been shattered, the one remaining wing had been torn off completely along with the tail end.

We were no longer just skidding along;because of the tail being ripped off we were now rolling for god knows how long.

As we were slowing down there was another crash no far from us, I had an inkling as to what it could be but there was no guarantee.

Being thrown around so much I was beginning to lose consciousness, it was then that the plane or at least what was left of it stopped.

I don't know how long I was out for but I could hear rustling from behind me, opening one eye I could see snow covered trees all around.

Broken glass and snow was littered all around the small cabin, I was neck deep in snow and there was no sign of the girls.

With the little strength I had I began trying to dig my way out, it was a lot harder than expected. After a lot of effort I finally managed to get out, the doorway to the cabin was barely open, the items from the overhead compartment have piled up nearly sealing us in.

The space left was only just big enough for me to squeeze out through, getting through i began pulling down this makeshift door to let the snow out.

After pulling down half of the makeshift door the snow forced the rest of it to crumble, as the snow piled out I saw Kathy clinging on the back of the co-pilot seat.

It was like she was a statue, she wasn't moving an inch, I shook her by the shoulders and it was then that she took in two deep breaths.

Quickly digging through the snow I found Nancy, Angie and Louise. All of them were not only tired but looked like they had been through hell and back.

Running around what was left of the plane I tried to search for dry blankets that could keep us warm, fortunately there were five blankets left in the a pile near the washroom.

Qucikly bringing them over i gave one to each of them and made sure that they wrapped themselves to keep nice and warm.

As Angie went to get up there was a very loud scream, we all tried to see what was wrong but could make anything of it.

It wasn't until my eyes followed a trail of ruby red blood that I saw what had happened. Her leg had been completely broken; the bone itself was sticking out of the tissue.

The look of sheer terror in her face was something that words could not express, even before anyone could say a word to her she passed out.

Carefully I carried her to one of the chairs and lay her down, it was a good thing that we had put the chairs down completely otherwise she would have had to put up with the cold floor.

Kathy began rummaging through her belongings to find a silver thermos, carefully putting itaside she began rummaging again to find a nice big block of ambrosia.

She carefully split it into even pieces and handed us all one along with a small cup of nectar, she finally went over to Angie and spoon fed her the nectar.

Eating the ambrosia recovered some of my lost strength, with this i went outside to have a look at the luggage compartment.

As i got to the place where the compartment was meant to be I was met with a large gaping hole, I looked down the trail that the broken plane had made.

I saw a some what intact luggage compartment some twenty meters away, we were out in the open like sitting ducks.  
Going back inside I saw Nancy bandaging Angie's broken leg, well it couldn't be called broken anymore.

The bone was no longer jutting out and the wound had closed itself, the only sign left of the injury was the raw red skin.

"Guys our luggage has been left a little further behind, we need to go get it back before anything else happens" I said with a smile.

"Kralus" said Louise "I have been on two other quests before and I have never faced anything like this before." "You said before that you will make sure that every single one of us will make it out of this alive but I don't see it happening."

I didn't know what to say to her, with the amount of things that they had to go through in a space of a few hours. I wouldn't be surprised if they all just left me to get on with the quest on my own from here.

Getting out I started walking down the trail towards the luggage compartment, as i got closer to it I began to get an eerie feeling.

It was almost as if I was being watched, clearing a few fallen trees I found the object that had crashed after us.  
Let's just say my hunch wasn't wrong but something seemed out of place.

There right in front of me were a pair of wings towering above me, however there was no sign of the girl anywhere.  
Looking at the snow I could see a faint glow from what was the heart of the dragon, it seemed that it wasn't quite dead yet.

Rather than sticking around to find out how alive the dragon was I decided to walk on and gather our belongings.  
Getting to the compartment I jumped in using one of the broken beams for support, there wasn't much in there just our bags and a small pile of snow.

One by one I threw the bags outside, as I went to get my bag I felt an added weight to it, looking at the holding strap I saw a ghostly white hand protruding from the snow.

Rather than digging this person out I just pulled on the bag and miraculously the person was none other than the dragon rider.

After throwing my bag out I slowly carried her outside, it seemed she wasn't completely unconscious and she kept trying to make me let go of her.

After getting hit in the stomach a few times I just let go of her and let her fall to the ground.

"You will pay for that you low life demigod" she hissed "do you not know who I am?"

"I don't know and I don't give a damn" I said rather crudely "if a lady doesn't want to graciously accept any help I don't have to stick around in the middle of nowhere to listen to her."

"Do you know who you're talking to, I could turn you into a Popsicle right where you stand" she said smugly

"Oh really, I would like to see you try" I grinned.

She got up in a drowsy state and slowly made her way to me , she fell down a few times and I just turned my back to her thinking that she would end up passing out but she didn't.

Somehow she managed to stumble towards me, i could feel an unnatural chill wrapping around me, as I felt her hand touch the middle of my back a jolt of electricity hit her.

Without even turning I knew she flew back towards the luggage compartment, as a hollow thud rang in the air I walked over to her with the bags in hand.

"I thought you were going to turn me into a Popsicle" I said smiling down at her "what happened?"

"Grabbing hold of the bags and my arm she managed to get back up, but she was now a lot drowsier."

"Don't worry sweetie I'll get you" she grinned foolishly.

"My, my I have never come across anyone with such confidence, who are you?"

"My name is Cynthia and I am the youngest child of Boreas."

A/N: Right that is the end of chapter 10 hope you enjoyed the twists and turns...all of you guys hoping for epic fight scenes don't worry there is more on the way :)  
We are getting close to the end of the first book :) I feel so proud...I have already started planning out the second book in the series (there will be a total of three or four books haven't really decided yet)  
In any case please do REVIEW :)


	11. Chapter 11

A/N: Hey guys I'm back with a new chapter :) sorry about the wait but I have run out of all my pre written chapters so it takes a while to write them up :(  
However I am trying to get a chapter written every other week (it would be every week but I have suddenly gotten other stuff to do on weekdays)  
Even with all of that I try to write a little every night so that I can progress :)  
Again I do not own PJO or any of the characters associated with it, however I do own the Plot to this story and the characters shown within it.

Hope you like the chapter :)

Chapter 11 Finally We Meet

As the evening was drawing closer the air was beginning to get colder, we couldn't go anywhere at this time so we had to set up camp.

The best place was demolished plane, everything else was already there for us to use. We all went around gathering wood for a small fire to keep warm; thanks to all the fallen trees it was quite easy to gather wood.

Making a fire was another problem, with all this snow around there was no dry place to start the fire. Carefully looking around we gathered enough stones to create a small circle, inside it we place all the wood and started a fire.

It was a good thing that most of the plane was still intact, otherwise it would have been hard to find a safe place to stay in. The plane stopped in a convenient place so the wind wasn't that much of a problem, we got the pilot cabin door to close so the passenger cabin was fairly warm.

Angie was sleeping in one of the chairs; Kathy was tending to the fire while Nancy was rummaging through the compartments for some leftover food. Cynthia was sitting down near the tail exit looking up at the sky, from her chair Louise was keeping an eye on her.

Ever since I brought her back with me, Louise has been very wary of her and it's not only her. We all are but she is the only person who can take us to where we want to go.

"Found them" shouted Nancy gleefully.

"Finally we can eat something" said Louise jumping out of the chair.

"So what do we have?" Asked Kathy

"Well we got some sandwiches, salted peanuts, some chocolates and brownies" smiled Nancy dropping it all down on a chair "dig in guys."

I picked up two sandwiches and walked over to Cynthia.

"Here eat something" I said passing her the sandwich.

"No thanks" she said grimly looking up.

"You uh don't like sandwiches? There are other things there as well you know" I said scratching my head.

There was no answer from her; she just sat there with her knees drawn close and head tucked under her arms. She was in no mood to talk so I just walked away from her and just sat near the fire, basking in the warmth of the fire I began to get sleepy.

One second I was looking at my feet the next I was out cold on the floor, the dream I was having was one of my old memories. A memory of when I met Sarah, times weren't exactly good. A war had been brewing between Sparta and her home town of Athens.

I remember seeing her as we charged into a small village, at the sight of her my blood crazed eyes began to soften. In all my years I had only seen the god of war circle the battle field; never had I imagined that I would see an angel in the midst of chaos

As I turned over in my sleep my hand landed on a stray cinder, almost immediately my eyes snapped open.

"Arghhhh!" "Hot hot hot hot" I said shaking my hand.

Looking at my palm the skin was burnt brown, it was still tingling so I quietly got up and walked out. As I put my hand down in the snow a nice numbing sensation spread through, looking back I saw Cynthia still curled up nearly the tail exit.

The other girls were all sleeping on the chairs; they all looked quite peaceful and happy. On the horizon I could see the sun starting to rise, looking around the damage we caused seemed to be on a much grander scale.

The dragon wings were somewhat visible through the trees, I don't know why but looking at the wings sent a chill down my spine.

"So cute you like to watch sunrises" came a voice from behind me.

Turning around I saw Angie walking towards me wrapped in a blanket.

"Gives you a chance to reflect on life" I said smiling

"Oh and you have something to reflect on" she said raising an eyebrow.

"A lot of things but never mind that how is your leg?"

"A little sore but much better, at least I no longer have a bone sticking out of my leg" she said laughing a little.

The sun was up now and the others were starting to wake up, after eating whatever was left we began to pack up.

"Guys I have been thinking and I feel that it would be best if you didn't come with me" I said meekly.

"What!" "You can't be serious Kralus, we came all this way and you just want us to turn around and leave?" Nancy asked in disbelief.

"This is the end of the line guys; from here on I can't guarantee your safety." "I know I said that I will bring all of you back and I will not back down from that, this is the only way that you can all return safely."

"Kralus we will never be able to look Chiron in the eyes if we leave you here on your own" said Louise

"Wait what! But you said-"

"I know what I said Kralus" Louise sighed "it was all in the heat of the moment, I didn't mean any of it."

"So you don't mind being chased by dragons and lunged at by Stheno?" I asked raising an eyebrow.

"Not exactly Kralus" said Kathy scratching her head "we like to keep our heads attached to our bodies; we would also prefer that our bodies stay nice and warm."

"Well I got no power over that, all I can guarantee is one hundred per cent chance of action and adventure" I smiled honestly.

"So far we have no arguments there" said Angie nodding "I would appreciate it if we met monsters that were more fashion conscious." "I mean come on I lost such a good t-shirt because of them."

All of our eyes turned to Angie; we all just stood there as if trying to see if she was serious about it. Seeing her eyes shut and her face mellow we all knew she wasn't joking.

"Right then we should get going" I said changing the subject "grab everything you need leave anything that is not required."

"Um Kralus you know what way we are going?" Asked Kathy

"Not exactly….but she does" I said pointing to Cynthia.

"I won't be telling you anything got that" said Cynthia walking off.

"You will have to tell us eventually" I yelled after her.

Feeling slightly frustrated I picked up my bag and walked out of the plane, seeing that Cynthia had nearly made it to the dragon wings, I ran after her.

"Hey wait up, we need your help." "Why are you being so stubborn?"

As I caught up to her she stopped walking and just looked at the dragon wings.

"Cynthia I'm not sure you know but the information you have could help save someone's life."

"WHAT DON'T YOU UNDERSTAND!" She shouted "I can't tell you anything."

Right then the girls caught up to us, they were all looking at Cynthia like she was the devil.

"What is your problem, all we are asking you is where we can find your boss but noooo you want to be all stuck up" said Angie bitterly.

There was a deathly silence for a like ten seconds and then a low rumbling sound was being emitted from somewhere. There was a loud crashing sound and I got swept away by snow, while trying to go against the flow I suddenly felt the snow give way under me.

As the snow began falling away I saw that I was no longer anywhere near the girls, more to the point I was falling down the side of a cliff. From the corner of my eye I saw my bag falling down.

Trying my best to reach the bag I managed to open the zip a little, trying my best to rummage through it I accidently pulled out a pair of boxers. Quickly stuffing them back in, I rummaged until I found my swords, pulling them out I stabbed them both into the side of the cliff.

The swords slowed down my descent but because of the amount of snow falling down, they weren't able to stay in place. As I hit the ground I was already getting buried, it was a little while before the avalanche died down, but by then it was already too late.

I didn't know how far down I was buried and more to the point; I didn't know how long I would last trying to dig my way out of here. My strength was being sapped so quickly, pushing the swords through the snow I was able to create a small breathing hole.

Taking in a deep breath it somewhat replenished a little bit of my strength. Carefully I began pulling the swords apart to make the hole bigger, after what felt like half an hour I managed to dig my way out.

As I sat there panting there was a loud roar followed by the ground rumbling, a fresh batch of snow was dumped on top of me and I lost it.

"ENOUGH!" I shouted bursting out from under the snow.

The sky began to darken as something flew over me, looking up I saw the dragon with Cynthia on it. I lost my sense of reasoning and anger washed over me, the swords began to glow like very hot cinders melting whatever snow was on me.

"YOU GET BACK HERE" I shouted throwing one of the swords at the dragon.

The chain kept extending itself until the sword swung around the tail and lodged itself in the bone.

"αστραπής Ιστός"

There were a few bursts of electricity from my hands and they shot up the chain to the dragon. Upon reaching the dragon, it split off in different directions to create a net effectively trapping the dragon.

I pulled the chain down with all my strength, this made the net become smaller and smaller until there was a large flash. A few seconds later there was a loud crash, the chain became loose and I retracted the sword.

With my anger still at its peak I slowly walked over to where the dragon had crashed, there were numerous burn marks all over it and Cynthia was nowhere to be seen. It took a lot of effort for it to get back up; no longer did it have the majestic form, the king of the skies had been brought down to the ground.

It turned to face me and let out a ferocious roar making the trees tremble and cliffs shake.

"It's your funeral" I said point a sword at it "after I'm done with you there won't be any pieces left to pick up."

As it swung its tail a few trees were uprooted and sent in my direction, I cut through them like they were made of butter. Seeing its initial assault go to waste it swung its tail again, with a lot of effort I managed to parry the attack.

As it tried to move close to me, its leg sunk into the snow causing it to go off balance, using this chance I charged ahead. Jumping at the last second I stabbed both swords where its neck was meant to be, it was now that I realised that the bones were near impossible to cut through.

As I landed on its neck, it went berserk flailing around like there was no tomorrow. It wasn't long before the swords dislodged and the chains became loose sending me flying.

Skidding across through the snow I hit a tree trunk, shaking it off I stabbed the swords into one end of the trunk and swung around a few times. It smashed into its face on the third swing and it was lifted off its feet, when it hit the floor the ground shook.

As it turned to face me its eyes were ablaze with anger, with what looked like a grin it shot out blue flames. Diving out of the way I tried to grapple on to its ribs, unfortunately it saw that and pinned me down with one of its legs.

Seeing it open its mouth in my direction I threw both swords into to its mouth, unfortunately that wasn't enough to stop it from breathing fire. Before the flames could reach me I pulled the swords out, they landed on the snow with a hiss.

My anger had reached its limits; small sparks of electricity were coming out of my hands. Looking up at the dragon I grabbed hold of its leg, I felt a huge amount of power surge through me and then there was a very bright flash.

I quickly closed my eyes but didn't let go, I held on tightly even though its cries of pain rang in my ears and as quickly as it had come the power the was gone. I felt the weight on top of me shift and I rolled away, opening my eyes I saw a lot of steam billowing from where the dragon had been standing.

Standing up I squinted into the steam to see if the dragon was still alive, for some reason the steam was swirling around on spot. I saw a small flash of blue and went to dive out of the way but it was too late, the flames engulfed my body.

As the flames died down there was silence, the steam blew off from me and from what I could tell the dragon was startled. There was not a single burn on me; a very thin bubble had been shielding me at the time the fire hit.

As I went to touch the bubble I felt very cold air swirling between my fingers.

"Right play time is over" I snarled.

Extending the chains as much as I could I used both swords to grapple shut its mouth just as it was about to breath another ball of fire. What happened next was a surprise to both it and me, the flames began to engulf it but they weren't travelling down the chains towards me.

A painful cry rang throughout the mountain; it was then that I heard someone call out to me. At first I didn't see anyone in the middle of all the carnage but then as I looked closely in the distance I saw Nancy and the girls coming over to where I was.

I kept an eye on the dragon to make sure that it wouldn't pull anything the second I turned around and I have to say it was pretty damn quiet after that last cry. As I watched the flames began to drift in the wind like ashes, soon the only sign left of the dragon were the scratch marks on the tree trunks and its dimming heart under some snow.

"Kralus are you okay?" Asked Kathy "you fell down a long way and what happened here?"

"Doesn't matter we have wasted enough time we have to get going" I said irritably.

As I saw Louise and Nancy shouldering Cynthia I ran over to them, I pushed them both down and held Cynthia by the shoulders. Shaking her like a rag doll a few times brought her back to consciousness.

"Where am I?" "Rufus what happened?"

"Who is Rufus?" I asked with a confused look.

At that her eyes snapped wide open and she looked very peeved.

"Let go of me" she snapped.

"Hey I don't like holding you either" I said letting go of her.

"Rufus!" "Rufus where are you?" Answer me she shouted.

She kept looking up at the sky and I knew who she was talking about.

"If you are looking for your dragon it used to be there" I said pointing to a scorched spot a few feet behind me.

At this she was speechless, her eyes filled with tears and she just fell to the floor.

"You killed him! "How could you be so inhumane, he was only three thousand years old" she sobbed.

"Hey he tried to kill me too; I was only defending myself" I said frankly "in any case three thousand years is a long time."

Without saying a word she got up and walked over to the scorched spot I was point to earlier, she began digging through some of the snow and tree trunks.  
She stopped digging when she found a faintly glowing football sized heart.

"Thank god you didn't destroy this, as long as this is intact Rufus will come back" she smiled with tears in her eyes.

"Uh you do understand the whole I obliterated him thing right?"

"What you don't understand is that Rufus is like a phoenix; as long as his heart isn't destroyed he will come back to life" she grinned "no matter how many times you destroy him he will be back as long as his heart isn't destroyed."

"Sister that's just madness" said Angie.

"Madness no, THIS IS RUFUS!"

The heart began to glow brighter and brighter until it formed into something, I rubbed my eyes to make sure that I wasn't seeing things. There in the palm of her hands was a live miniature dragon, for a few seconds no one said anything then the girls burst into fits of laughter.

"Damn I guess the warranty on that thing must have run out" laughed Nancy.

"Yesterday you were flying on his shoulders today he will be snugly sitting in your pocket" laughed Louise.

"Forget the shrimp" I shouted "just tell me where you are keeping Sarah."

At this the mini Rufus growled at me.

"What you want to go for round two?" "Sigh look tell me where Sarah is or I fry the shrimp" I said sparks flying from the tip of my fingers.

"You wouldn't dare."

"Just ask him, I'm sure he remembers all the jolts he's gotten" I grinned.

She looked on as Rufus shivered in her hands and then she looked over at me still making sparks fly from my fingertips.

"Fine but if anyone asks I didn't tell you where the hideout is."

"Finally!" I groaned "was that too hard?"

Now that Cynthia was ready to lead us to the lair all that was left to do was find my bag, after digging through quite a bit of snow I found but it was in no condition to be carried around.  
Slinging the swords over my shoulder I began following the girls, mini Rufus was fluttering around Cynthia all the way.

An hour later we were at the river, the sight was very invigorating and fish were lazily swimming downstream. Looking upstream there was a large cavern from where the river flows.

"So where is this hideout?" I said splashing some water on my face.

"It's camouflaged as the boulder next to the entrance of the cavern" Cynthia sighed.

"Thanks for your help" I smiled "even if it was reluctant." "Come on guys lets finish this."

I walked up to the cavern while the girls said their goodbyes, getting close to the boulder I was expecting to meet some resistance but none came. Swiping my hand at the boulder the vision in front of me blurred, I smiled at endeavours of the new era and walked in.

I felt a sudden chill down my spine; the inside of this place was nothing but ice and the tunnel stretched as far as the eye could see. Carefully walking through the tunnel I kept a look out for anything unusual, as the tunnel was coming to an end the sound of low whispers could be heard.

Taking hold of both swords I exit the tunnel in to a magnificently carved room, there wasn't much light in the room but I could tell that there was a lot of ice in there.  
As I took a step forward the whispering stopped, a cold harsh voice called out to me.

"Cynthia is that you?" "Is the job done?"

"No."

"No! "What do you mean no!"

"I'm saying that I'm not Cynthia."

"Then who are you?"

"Your worst nightmare" I grinned.

A/N:There we have it the end of the 11th chapter ^_^ hope you guys enjoyed the dragon fight...i know it was quite short but I really didn't want to extend the fight scene that much.  
Only two more chapters to go and I will be finished with this book YAY!  
Then I can get started on the next one :) I will be putting up a chapter of the next book when I publish the laster chapter of this one ^_^ already have the ideas and everything sorted out writing is the only thing that needs to be done :)

Oh and guys Please Review :) 


	12. Chapter 12

A/N: Hey guys its been a while, sorry took so long to bring you the next update...been very busy with uni work (so many assignments QQ)  
Well I have been finishing them off one by one inorder to make some time for writing :D  
I have changed quite a few initial ideas in this chapter, I hope that you enjoy reading this chapter.  
:D  
Again I do not own PJO or any of the characters associated with it, however I do own the Plot to this story and the characters shown within it.

Chapter 12 General of the First Legion

I could hear water trickling below my feet, there were small cracking sounds coming from the ice and the temperature of the room was enough to make blood freeze. It was amazing how the room had been fashioned using ice; I anticipated that it must have been a small crevice some time back judging from the entrance.

Looking around the décor was all made from ice, there was not a single thing in this room that emitted any kind of heat or even used electricity. Hearing the ice crunch I returned to my sense, my eyes searched for him and found him standing near a pedestal at the far end of the room.

"Who are you and why have you taken Sarah?"

There was no answer from him; he just stood there as if he heard nothing.

"Did I cause you any misery in the past?"

Still there was no answer from him, I was beginning to wonder if he was able to speak and if he was did he speak English. Very slowly he began to walk towards me, his footsteps echoed in the room and I was sure I could hear the girls in the tunnel behind me.

"It has nothing to do with you or your girlfriend" he said in a cold voice.

"Then why are you holding her against her will?"

He didn't say a word, just kept walking around the room sliding his hand across the frozen walls. It was then that the girls caught up, all of them were glaring daggers at me as If I was the one that had frozen the room.

"I sure could go for a cup of hot cocoa right now" said Nancy shivering slightly.

"You and me both sister" said Louise.

I started walking towards the pedestal hoping that I would see Sarah up there but before I could even get close to it, he came back from the other corner of the room.

"What's the hurry?" "Oh right you want to see your precious Sarah" he said sneering

He snapped his fingers and two figures holding another appeared at pedestal, they roughly set the person down. As she looked up I knew it was Sarah, she had a few bruises on her face yet her eyes were shining full of life, her clothes were torn yet she looked as beautiful as the day I first met her.

"Sigh I see that she is safe, that is good to know." "If anything had happened to her you would have dug your own grave." "Seeing as she is just hurt I'll let you off with broken bones."

"Oh is that a threat?"

"No its reality" I said grinning "since it has come to this...let's get this party started."

"It would be my pleasure" he said taking out two swords.

Taking out my own swords I blocked his attack, we were both at a standoff but I could feel my feet slipping.

"What's the matter?" "Is the famous Kralus not able to keep his footing" he laughed.

"Don't worry about me; you should be worried about yourself."

Throwing one sword at him I ran to tackle him; he easily dodged the sword and moved right where I wanted him. Lifting him off his feet I threw him at the wall, the sound of the armour grinding against the ice echoed in the cave.

The throw didn't slow him down; he became more aware of my movements and tried his best to make sure I couldn't get close to him. He was right about one thing, there was no way that I would be able to keep a steady footing in here and as time went on it became worse.

Seeing him charge at me I back away and hit a wall, with nowhere to go I ducked narrowly missing his punch. As he punched the wall, the ice fell away revealing a pillar and it was then that I realized that his room is not as natural as it was made out to be.

Theus must have used his powers to make the room a lot bigger, the only way to destroy the room was to either beat him down or get rid of the supporting pillars. Extending the chains as much as I could I swung at the nearest pillar, the ice shattered like glass.

There was an odd silence; I couldn't see him anywhere it was like he had gone invisible. I concentrated for a few minutes trying to make out any sound of him moving but there was nothing.

The second I relaxed I felt something pierce my shoulder, it took a few seconds to register and then I felt the pain hit. Looking to my left I saw a blade emerging from my shoulder and it definitely wasn't his.

It was giving off a red aura and it felt so hot. I could feel it burning my insides for a couple of seconds; I dropped my swords and fell to the floor. Behind me I could hear the girls scream and run towards me, looking up I saw Theus wearing a devilish grin pointing his sword at the girls.

I felt my vision start to go blurry; I felt the pain and fatigue of the past twenty four hours washing over me. Watching Theus punch Louise in the face I felt anger wash over me taking away the pain and fatigue.

Getting up I grabbed my swords and charged, Theus didn't have time to turn around, I plunged both swords through the sides of the armour. I felt his body lurch forward; taking out one sword I stabbed it into his back and lifted him off the ground.

Smashing his body down behind me I pulled both swords out.

"I…I thought you were dead" he wheezed.

"Don't think a little scratch like that will kill me, who do you think I am?" I shouted angrily.

"Hah it seems I was wrong about you" coughed Theus getting up "it would seem that not getting the armour of Achilles was a bad choice."

"So that was you trying to steal the armour" I said point a sword at him.

"Yes it was me but I got there too late, someone beat me to it" he said picking up his sword.

If it wasn't him then who could it have been I thought to myself, there must have been someone else who knew that the armour was going to the museum. In the second I was distracted he lunged at me both swords point at my chest, at the last second both Nancy and Kathy came forward to block the attack.

"Kralus what are you doing day dreaming…we need you back here" said Nancy strained

"Sorry about that."

"Forget the sorry deal with him first; if we are alive we can all say sorry" said Kathy.

Moving both of them away I kicked him in the stomach, he skidded back a few feet then jumped back at me. I blocked one of his attacks as he landed; he quickly pulled back and smashed down both swords making me fall to my knees.

"Nancy!" "Tell me are those the swords he started off with?"

"No he changed them when he went to the other side of the room; I think those are the blades of Athena."

"The bad news just keeps piling up" I said strained.

Quickly ducking and rolling back I pinned down both swords, as they came into contact with the ice it melted away like butter. Suddenly he let go of both swords and kicked me in the chest, it wasn't a hard kick but it still made me slip away giving him time to pick up the swords.

Using one of the swords as brakes I threw the other at his leg, it just bounced off his leg, before I could pull it back he used one of his swords to pin down the chain. Once again it felt like time had slowed down, I saw him charge at me sword held high, I activated cestus to block his attack but it knocked me back.

He didn't stop there; he carried on his barrage pushing me back to the wall, with my back to the wall I decided to go for broke. Diving to the side I took a swipe at his legs, he lost his balance and fell to the floor.

Upon falling he let go of the sword giving me a chance to retaliate, this time round there was no room to error. The swords had already built up so much power; if he hung on to them they will only get more powerful.

Jumping as high as I could I punched the floor, a very loud cracking sound echoed in the cavern. The ice cracking must have disoriented Theus because he wasn't getting up; instead he was clutching his ears.

Slowly walking over to where he pinned down my swords I took hold of his one, the second I held it I felt power surging through me but at the same time I could feel the sword draining my energy very quickly.

As my eyes found Theus my vision was getting blurry by the second, every muscle in my body was crying out from exhaustion. Theus was slowly getting up; he clawed around for a while then managed to get to his feet, picking up his sword he walked over to me.

For a few seconds we were just staring at each other, I could hear him breathing, with each interval his breath condensing in front of my eyes. As I watched I saw his lips curl into a sneer behind that helmet.

"It looks like the great Kralus has run out of steam" he said kicking me down.

I hit the floor like a log, arduously I craned my neck to look at him; very slowly he began circling me like a vulture waiting for its prey to die.

"You have given me a hard time Kralus but this is the end of the road" smiled Theus it was nice to meet the famous Kralus but I really don't see what the fuss is all about." "I mean come on you couldn't beat little old me."

I tried to get back up but he just kicked me down, I didn't realise that the swords had energy draining capabilities and now it was too late. As he carried on walking around me I saw Angie pick up an ice shard and throw it at him, the hit made him drop to one knee but he managed to shrug it off and get back up.

This time his anger focused on the girls, he walked over to Angie who just ran as fast as she could. Out of nowhere an arm came out from behind a pillar and clotheslined him; he was painfully rolling on the floor coughing.

It was a few minutes before he was able to regain his composure and within those few minutes the girls had gotten ready. Kathy kicked both swords away, as he looked up she punched him in the face but it didn't do much.

Instead she ended up hurting herself, silently cursing she kicked him in the face, she went to kick him again but he grabbed her leg. Picking up an ice shard with the other he stabbed her leg, seeing blood pouring out she went into shock.

Meanwhile Theus was back up; as Kathy turned around he punched her in the stomach and kicked her in the ribs. Reeling from the hits she was about to fall flat on her face when Louise stepped in and pushed her out of the way before Theus could land anymore hits.

Watching them fight desperately I started to crawl towards them; I didn't even make it half way when I spat out blood. I lost all feeling from my left arm, the wound from before was tingling and I could feel jolts of pain but nothing past the shoulder.

Concentrating on my right hand small sparks began to appear; painfully I grabbed my left arm. Feeling the small burst of electricity travel through my arm it came to life, the small bursts must have jump started my nerves.

Feeling slightly more alive I got up as Nancy charged past me with two swords in hand, she slashed at him in an arch making him jump back and then she dove forward with the other sword.

She managed to make a shallow cut on his armour and nothing more; in return he sent two swift kicks at her side which she easily blocked. However she was caught off guard by him throwing some ice at her, as her eyes followed the ice through the air; he punched her in the side then grabbed her arm and threw her across the room.

Louise took hold of Kathy's sword and charged at him but he just sent her flying with a well-timed kick, as she hit the wall I heard a sickening crack. Kicking Kathy against the wall he began walking towards me, neither one of us looked in good shape.

We both had numerous cuts and bruises, not to mention some very life threatening injuries but somehow we were both standing there waiting for the other to make a move. As he bent over to pick up his sword I kicked my own at his face, luckily he managed to move away before it speared through his head but he did get a nice cut on his helmet.

The tingling of the chains retracting against the broken ice sounded something similar like nails being drawn against the board just not in the same frequency. With one final push I dashed towards him, he kicked his sword up in the air and I swung my own against it.

It flew behind him becoming lodged in the pillar; he dodged my kick and elbowed me just below my neck. Feeling my mind go blank I swung behind me just as he was about to kick me, the shin guards he had on protected his leg but only by a bit.

The sword was lodged in the guard, he was frantically trying to get it off but it wasn't working, instead it just looked like he was trying to do the hokey pokey. Grabbing his leg I pulled the sword out and threw him at the pillar, crashing through it the sword fell on top of him, rubble piled up but he clawed his way out whilst grabbing the sword.

As he swung the sword around I thought it was actually on fire, I could feel the heat being emitted from it even though he was a good fifteen feet away.

"This is it Kralus, whoever is left standing after this will walk away with their life" gasped Theus.

"Yeah but it won't be you" I grinned.

Picking up a large ice shard I threw it at him and then watched as the ice turned to water before it even reached him. Cold water splashed his helmet then just evaporated making it look like he was a ghost from the pit of hades.

As he ran towards me I got ready to block his attack, I saw him raise his sword and swing down at me but what happened next was something I didn't count on. My guard was blown open; I felt like I was just hit by a cannon, I was surprised that the swords were still intact.

He swung down again and this time I wasn't ready, I barely blocked his attack I could feel heat making my skin boil. With great effort I parried away his attack, as the sword hit the floor there was a loud bang.

The place where the sword had hit looked caved in; all the ice in the room had melted away or was now against the wall. Still in awe I did not see his punch coming until it was too late, as his fist connected with my jaw I felt myself fade in and out of consciousness.

I tried to remember how many times that had happened today but I was too tired, I just wanted to close my eyes. I was now spent, the small reservoir of energy that I had tapped into earlier gone, I was expecting Theus to just finish me but I heard him walk away and then pick up something.

Opening my eyes I saw his figure towering over mine, this was exactly the same as my dream. I watched as he raised one sword above his head, in that instance the sword flashed a fiercer red.

Even though I was on the floor I could feel it burning away what was left of my t-shirt, the second he swung down there was a loud cracking sound. Fortunately I managed to move away, the sword hit the floor a mere inch away from my arm.

The cracking sound continued for some time, it wasn't until a few minutes later that I realised the floor was starting to break up. Looking around I could see large chunks of the floor breaking up and falling down but where exactly was down.

As a chunk near me fell away I took a peak and realised that there was no river down below, instead there was a flaming inferno. It would seem that the gates of hell have been forced open, the sound of tortured souls echoed in the crumbling cavern.

Theus was just as shocked, it was a while before he spoke, from the look on his face I could tell that he did not calculate for this to happen. Painfully getting up I kicked the swords out of his hands, they flew out of his hands and landed near the pedestal.

"Look what you have done" I shouted "this is something that you can't just wish away."

"What are you not happy?" He said sarcastically "hell welcomes you with open arms, why don't you just go there."

"I am not going to fall in to the depths of hell without taking care of you" I shouted kicking him in the chest.

He fell a few feet away with a loud thump, as he looked up at me anger blazed in his eyes.

"Why do you keep getting in my way" he shouted "with this power we could take Olympus, if you side with me we could have the world."

"I don't want the world, I only want Sarah." "If you didn't take her we wouldn't be at this point." "If you want to blame someone blame yourself."

"Who do you think you are Kralus?" He spat "I could find hundreds like you in a matter of days, you are nothing special."

"Hahahaha I am the man who walked in here and destroyed your hideout, I am the man who brought you to your knees." "I am the General of the first legion."

"Why you little!" He said jumping at me.

The second he jumped the floor gave way under him, a shocked expression crossed his face as he began falling into the depths of hell.

A/N: So I hope that you enjoyed reading this chapter, I hope that you guys enjoyed the fight in this chapter. Just one more chapter to go and I have finished the first book YAY!


	13. Chapter 13

A/N: Right I have finally made it here, I have finally finished the book :D  
Feel so happy right now.

Can't wait to get started on the second book ^_^

Again I do not own PJO or any of the characters associated with it, however I do own the Plot to this story and the characters shown within it.

Chapter 13 Saying Goodbye

The room was now crumbling away faster than a sand castle attacked by a playground bully. Looking around I saw the girls slowly helping each other get to the cave exit.

I looked towards the pedestal and saw Sarah shielding herself from the onslaught of debris; carefully I made my way across the room towards her.  
The falling debris and floor just made it harder to get to her, jumping across a now forming chasm I reached the pedestal, quickly running up to her I shielded her from the falling debris.

"Don't worry Sarah I am here now" I smiled down at her.

Looking up at me she faintly smiled, helping her up I began making my way back down the stairs when the floor in front of my just gave way.  
Looking around now there was barely any ground left for me to get over to the other side, if anyone looked at this spectacle from above they would have seen the fallen away space resembling an inverted letter E.

The small bits of ground left in the middle, my left and right were slowly crumbling away, it was as if they were fighting to stay in one piece to allow us safe passage. As I jumped toward what was left of the ground in the middle it gave way as my hand caught the edge, both us were now falling.

Thinking quickly I activated cestus and threw it at the edge of the cave exit, thankfully it managed to dig into the stone. Even with our combined weight it did not give way, I willed the chains to retract as quickly as possible.

The minute it took for us to get back to the cave exit was the longest minute that I had ever experienced. As out feet touched the ground cestus changed back to its bracelet form, I looked at Sarah and just hugged her.

"At last after so long we were together, now nothing would be able to separate us" looking into her eyes I saw tears welling up.

"Hey what's wrong?" "Why are you crying?"

"It's just….I thought I would never see you again" she sobbed.

"You know I would never go away, even Hades couldn't stop me from coming back to see you" I laughed.

At this she stopped sobbing, looking into my eyes she just hugged me, it was then that Nancy called out to us.

"Hey love birds let's get going otherwise we will get buried in here" she shouted.

"Has everyone else gotten out?" I shouted back over the sound of falling debris

"Yeah everyone else is out, only you two remain here, now come on before we have to dig you out."

"Yeah coming" I smiled.

Turning to Sarah I took hold of her hand and began walking out but for some reason she didn't follow me. I looked back at her questioningly but she didn't seem to give an answer, walking back to her I waited for her to say something.

It was a while before she said anything and I was sure that Nancy had already gotten out, she must have been waiting for us with the others.

"Kralus I…I'm sorry."

"Sorry?" "Sorry for what?"

"I'm sorry for this" she said walking closer to me.

At first I thought she was going to give me a bear hug but then I felt something slowly piercing my chest, it wasn't until she moved away that I saw a small blue dagger.

"Sarah….What have you done!" I gasped

"I…I'm so sorry Kralus I didn't want any of this to happen but he said that I had to do it" she sobbed.

I took a few steps back and steadied myself against the wall, as I looked at Sarah her face began to change; she no longer resembled the Sarah I knew. She was completely different, it was then that I realised that I had been set up, Sarah was no longer in this world.

This person standing in front of me was a shape shifter, her skin was now ghostly white and her eyes had become icy blue, her hair changed to a silvery blonde yet her body remained the same.

"Who…who are you?" "And why did you do this?" I asked collapsing to the floor.

"My name is Kiara Hanson; I am a daughter of Boreas blessed with the powers of shape shifting." "You met my sister Cynthia I hope that she was hospitable" she smiled wryly.

"How many children does Boreas have!" "I spat I hope that they are not all like you and you still haven't answered why you did this."

Her icy blue eyes bore into mine and there was a period of silence, she shook off the stare and walked around a few paces, on her return she was ready to talk.

"Now if you are thinking this is something personal then you are wrong, I have no grievances against you." "It was something that had to be done."

"O…Okay" I said spitting out some blood "who do you work for, you must have a boss that knows who I am."

"I don't work for anyone Kralus; you would have been a problem for us in the future so it was important to get rid of you while you were still vulnerable."

Suddenly I started coughing blood, looking at it glistening on my hands just reminded me that I was now just a regular human.

Painfully looking up at her I smiled, the look of pity on her face turned to disdain as she saw me laughing in the face of death.

"You lay here bleeding to death yet you still laugh" she said questioningly "you would have indeed been a problem for us Kralus." "If we had met in another time I am sure that the roles would have been reversed."

"You keep saying that you work alone yet you keep talking about 'us'…so I gather that there are more of you I said coughing a little."

She looked at me like someone looking down on a puppy that had just been run over by a car, with that she turned around and began walking away.

"Good bye Kralus."

"You know this might not be enough to kill me" I said grinning at her.

She stopped where she was and looked back at me with anger; those eyes filled with an endless rage seemed to burn a little brighter.

"Well then how about I help you a little" she said sweetly.

Walking up to where I was she began pushing me towards the edge of the room; I didn't have the strength to even fight back. With each push I could feel the dagger digging in deeper into my flesh and tearing into my organs.

As I lay there on the edge I could see down into the depths of hell, it made me wonder how big my fall would be. Would I even survive the fall? I wondered if I would see Theus along with many of my adversaries from the past.

"Now then Kralus don't say that I haven't given you a proper sending off, usually people would burn their dead at a pyre then send them on the way to Hades but here I am throwing you alive in to the pits of hades to burn in the fires of hell."

I felt her push me and the ground below give way, looking up I could see parts of the ceiling still falling down for a second I thought I might be able to make it back. But as I reached for a boulder the intense pain in my chest reminded me that I no longer had any cards to play.

As I closed my eyes I heard someone's voice, at first I thought it must be the angel of death but soon the faint voice turned into someone shouting. Arduously I opened my eyes again to see Nancy practically sitting at the edge with tears rolling down her cheeks.

"Hey….Hey Nancy I'm sorry I won't be able to get back with you guys."

"No don't you dare say that Kralus we have come a long way, we are all going to go back." "No stupid prophecy is going to change that."

"Stupid prophecies huh….I guess this time it got me" I said laughing.

"Kralus quick grab on to this" said Nancy "throwing one end of my sword down."

I had no idea how it managed to reach me when I was so far down but it did, I grabbed hold of the chain just above the hilt.

"Now just will the chains to get you back up here" she said teary eyed.

I tried my best to get the chains to retract but nothing was happening, I guess the forcefully opening a door way to hell must have made everything around it get sucked in to try and close the entrance.

Even as I was thinking this I could feel something pulling me down, I looked up at Nancy and she knew what I was thinking.

"Don't you dare let go of that chain" she shouted agonisingly.

"There is no other way; if I hold on I will end up pulling you down too." "This is the only way; I guess I never thought that the prophecy could have meant me not coming back."

"I told you we are all coming back" She said getting up on feet.

As I watched her she began to pull on the chain to try and get me up there but it wasn't doing much, I was barely moving. It was then that I felt a surge of energy pushing everything back up, or so I thought.

Looking around I saw all the debris going back up and reattaching itself to the place where it had fallen from. Even Nancy stopped pulling to see what was going on, I think this might have given her some more hope as she frantically began pulling the chain up again.

She wasn't wrong to hold hope but the only problem was the debris was going back into its place faster than I was being pulled up. Part of the floor to the left of me was already being reconstructed; I could see it in her eyes that she knew that she was fighting a losing battle.

As larger and larger pieces began to fit themselves back I shouted at her to get her attention.

"Listen Nancy this is the end for me, you won't be able to pull me up quick enough to get me out of here."

At this she broke down in tears.

"Nancy listen to me, we got the blades of Athena back." "Get back to camp and get Chiron to take you to Mount Olympus, you have to return them before anything bad happens."  
"Knowing the gods they might have already started fighting."

"No…please" she squeaked

"I'm sorry I can't come back with you but I promise Nancy I will come back" I said grinning at her.

For a second a smile crossed her face then it was replaced with horror as I let go of the chain and it zoom up towards her. As I was falling away I could see her still sitting there even as the floor around that place refitted itself.

The last thing I saw was her stretching out her hand towards me.

A/N: Well guys thats the end of the First book in the series hope you enjoyed reading the chapter.

I will be posting up a little something about the second book shortly so please have a read :)

Please Review :)


	14. Second Book Blurb

A/N: Right guys before you start reading let me tell you this is my first go at writing a blurb so be nice.  
I don't mind getting any constructive criticism but please no flames.

Again I do not own PJO or any of the characters associated with it, however I do own the Plot to this story and the characters shown within it.

In ancient times there was said to have been an island that protected a deity from the wrath of heavens and as such the deity gave the island life.  
A multitude of plants and animals never seen by humans thrived here; it was truly paradise on earth.

Kayla, her little sister Rebecca and best friend Kristen have been stuck on this island for as long as they can remember.  
None of them can remember how they got to the island but they do realise that they do not belong there.

It's not long before they have another person join them but who is this boy and why can't he remember anything. Could he be like us?  
We are now on a long adventure thanks to him and it is because of him that we have escaped this island.

A/N:I hope that this whet your appetite and you guys are as excited about the second book as I am.

Please Review ^_^


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